Stripe has now blocked the Company Registry fraud – but why did it facilitate it?

TL;DR

If you incorporate a UK company, you are likely to receive a letter like this from “Company Registry” (company-registry.org):
It looks like an official document – an invoice for a service that has already been purchased (“Pending”, “Complete activation”, “These are the next steps”, “IMPORTANT!”).
The reference to a “COVID 19 New Business Relief Deduction” again gives the impression this is an official letter.
It isn’t. It’s a scam. More about that in Monday’s report.

We understand Stripe was Company Registry’s payment processor from when the scam started around October 2021. At that point there wouldn’t have been obvious signs that Company Registry was a scam. But in April 2023, Companies House published a warning about Company Registry which was widely circulated. The obvious conclusion: Stripe doesn’t update its KYC/AML checks on its clients effectively enough, and/or frequently enough.