The question to answer first
Someone you met through dating sends a PDF or screenshot of a UK company filing and says it shows the business behind a payment request. The file may even open on a government service. That raises an immediate question: does the document make the payment link official?
No. Hosting and endorsement are different things, and the current Companies House guidance separates them.
Its guidance, updated June 9,2026, states that it is not responsible for the content or reliability of external sites, including links within document images and 2 D optical codes, and that listing is not endorsement. Source
So the useful move is not to click the link or scan the code to see where it goes. It is to split the message into two separate questions and answer only the one you can answer safely first.
Two questions, not one
| Question | What would answer it | What does not answer it |
|---|---|---|
| Is the document a real, current public record for the named company? | Reopening the company through the official Find and update company information service and comparing the file and date | A forwarded screenshot, a file name, or the fact that a PDF opens |
| Is the payment destination authorised by that company or by Companies House? | A contact route you reached independently, such as the organisation’s own published contact details | A link or QR code inside the document, or the document’s presence on a government service |
Keeping these apart matters because a real document and a risky destination can travel in the same message. A genuine external company website can also be linked from a filing, so the existence of an external link is not by itself a finding of fraud. The point is that the link’s authority has to be established somewhere other than the document that contains it.
Reopen the record yourself
The reader in this situation usually already has the company name and the public document. That is enough to check the record directly rather than relying on the forwarded copy.
Companies House’s Find and update company information service makes public company data available free, without registration to view it; available material includes company status, filing information and document images. Source
Reach that service the way you would normally reach it, not through a link in the message, then look up the company you were given. Compare what you see with what was sent: the company name, the document type, and the date shown on the file. If the forwarded file does not match the current public record, that mismatch is a reason to pause the payment conversation and ask about it plainly. If it does match, you have confirmed the document’s public context, not the payment destination.
One honest limit: checking the record tells you what the register shows. It does not tell you who is messaging you, whether their story is true, or where a payment would go.
What the register does and does not vouch for
The register is not an unexamined noticeboard, and it is also not a guarantee attached to everything in a filing.
The same current guidance describes checks on filings, further enquiries where accuracy is in doubt and possible annotations or removal following investigation; it should not be paraphrased as no information is ever checked. Source
That is a reason to read the record carefully rather than to assume every document is flawless or every document is worthless. Checks and annotations concern the filings themselves; they do not extend approval to a payment link, a code, or a person’s request.
A worksheet for the message you already have
Use this on the material you were sent. It is deliberately about the document and the request, not about the sender’s private life, assets, family, or whereabouts.
| Field | What to record | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Document source | Was it sent as a PDF, a screenshot, or a link? Who sent it and when? | A screenshot can be edited or outdated; a link can point anywhere |
| Visible link or code | Copy the visible text of any link or describe the code without opening or scanning it | You are recording the claim, not testing a possibly hostile destination |
| Payment claim | What exactly is being asked for, and what is the document said to prove? | Separates the request from the paperwork |
| Unanswered authorisation | Who, according to a route you reached yourself, would confirm this payment? | Names the gap instead of filling it with the document |
| Independent contact route | The organisation’s own published contact details, found without using the message | Gives you a safe way to ask |
| Record comparison | Company name, document type, and date as shown on the official service versus the forwarded copy | Shows whether the file matches the current public record |
If the only thing connecting the payment to the company is a link or QR code inside the file, the authorisation question is still open. Do not scan the code or open the destination to find out. Return to an independently reached official service or a known organisation’s contact route before you enter information or pay.
If the file is a screenshot with visible company text
Sometimes what arrives is an image rather than a PDF. If it contains public company text you can read, the visible words can be compared with the official record. The guide on checking screenshot text before searching public posts explains how visible text can be used as search clues; it reads words, not QR codes, and it does not authenticate a document.
Where TraceSeek fits, and where it does not
After you have separated the document from the payment claim, an optional next step is to organise the public company statements you were already sent so the open questions are in one place. TraceSeek’s public content analysis can retrieve and summarise accessible profile content, and self-disclosed professional information is attributed to its source rather than treated as verified fact. The app is available on iOS and Android.
TraceSeek does not operate a company register, decode QR codes as a documented feature, certify a company, authenticate a person’s identity, or guarantee that a payment is safe. A public match or a repeated claim is a lead, not independent confirmation.
A clear next step
Before any money moves, do three things in this order: reopen the named company through the official service and compare the file and date; write down the payment claim and who you would need to hear it from through a route you found yourself; and ask that question through the organisation’s own published contact details. If the answer does not come, the payment stays unresolved, whatever the PDF looks like.