How to find anything
Businesses & Domains: Search Guides
Check that a company is real, see who runs it, and find who registered a website. Company registers are public and mostly free. Domain records are public too, though personal owner details are usually redacted.
Companies have to register, and the registers are public so that customers and suppliers can check who they're dealing with. That makes this one of the easier categories: an official, free source exists in each country. Websites are similar, except that the people behind a domain can usually hide their personal details, so you'll often get the registrar rather than the owner.
Guides
What to try first
- Find the company's exact legal name and where it's registered. Look at the website footer, terms page or invoice.
- Search the official register: a state business search in the US, Corporations Canada or the provincial registry in Canada, and Companies House in the UK.
- For a website, run the domain through ICANN Lookup to see the registrar, the creation date and any published contact.
- Compare the dates. A company or domain created a few weeks ago that claims decades of trading is a warning sign.
Which guide do I need?
- You want to check a company is real before paying it: How to Look Up a Business and Who Runs It. Register searches for each country, plus SEC EDGAR for US public companies.
- You need to know who owns or controls a UK company: How to Look Up a Business and Who Runs It. Covers officers and people with significant control on Companies House.
- You want to know who registered a website: How to Find Out Who Owns a Domain Name. ICANN Lookup, the .ca and .uk registries, and how to contact a hidden owner.
- You want to buy a domain someone else owns: How to Find Out Who Owns a Domain Name. How to reach the owner through the registrar.
- A business you paid has disappeared: How to Find Out Who Owns a Phone Number. See the scam reporting steps, and check the register for a dissolved company.
Coming next
We're writing these next. They'll appear here once they're checked:
- How to check a contractor's licence