How do you know?

We recently had occasion to do business with a company which was found for us by google.

The amount was not large, but afterwards, we wondered how one could be sure that such a company really existed and was not just a wheeze to milk one's credit card account. A perfectly respectable, victim free crime as the insurance companies are the only people to lose out - or so the story has been known to run at TB.

The site in question looked perfectly plausible and included the address of somewhere which we had never heard of in Devon. But further inquiries of google only resulted in our being taken to the site which had taken our money in the first place. There seemed to be no third party verification, no listing from a third party which one could trust.

Then, this morning, I think of Companies House. Who turn out to offer a good service for these purposes, with a decent search facility and, in the case that you find what you are looking for, free sight of quite a lot of documentation, including the various regular returns required by company law. Made easier in this case as, when going back to the site to look for some details with which to refine my search, I found a companies house registration number.

With the result that we now know that this company has been around for a while. We know the names and addresses of their directors. We know the names of their accountants, with whom one might check if the amounts involved were large. Google already tells me that the accountant in question is a chartered accountant with a degree in something called applied statistics and accountancy. Ownership is a bit of a mystery, as is the involvement of the Charity Commissioners, but for present purposes we decided that we could let that go.

And thinking as I type, if Companies House had not delivered, I dare say I could have got google to come up with other stuff. Perhaps the Land Registry entry for the premises from which they operate. Or the VAT people. Or an entry in some business directory.

So we can be sure that the company of the web site turned up by google does exist.

The next worry could be whether somebody has managed to infiltrate the legitimate web site with illegitimate demands for money. Or whether someone is spoofing the legitimate web site...

Clearly far too much time on my hands.

PS: we also now know that someone produces model articles of association for small companies, rather as someone else produces model contracts of sale for houses. And that said articles tell you nothing about what the company does, rather being the rules by which is is governed. Points of order, voting rights, notice of meetings and all that sort of thing.