Want to know where Aberdeen Asset Management has its headquarters? That would be a small flat in a grey Tower Hamlet’s housing block.
The flat has been cited as the business address of nearly 200 clone firms.
Businesses including Aberdeen Asset Management, a clone of Abrdn, and Boots (Cosmetics), as opposed to the official Walgreens Boots Alliance, have been set up in the past two years, using the flat as the official address on the Companies House register.
The property is thought to have become the victim of what is known as virtual squatting, where an address is hijacked for fraudulent purposes. Companies registered at flat 43 are among many examples of dubious filings at the corporate registry, which is not required to check the veracity of the information filed.
Abrdn has reported the clone company registered to Perkins House to the Financial Conduct Authority. However, it is understood that the FCA cannot issue a clone company alert without more evidence that the registered company has actively pretended to be Abrdn or any other regulated firm.
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