Essex addresses used for fake firms in Milton Keynes and Wolverhampton

Residents whose addresses were used to form bogus companies have also had their details used to form sham firms elsewhere in the UK, it has emerged.

The BBC revealed how 80 bogus firms had been registered since June in Henry Drive, Leigh-on-Sea, Essex.

It has now been confirmed that some of those addresses have been used to form other fake firms in places like Milton Keynes and Wolverhampton.

Financial crime expert Graham Barrow said the situation was "scandalous".

A Henry Drive address was given as the address of the "entrepreneur" behind a clothing company seemingly formed in Tanner Drive, Milton Keynes, at the end of May.

The same address - though with a different name - was also used to form a company in Stafford Road, Wolverhampton.

Mr Barrow, who runs The Dark Money Files, also found a raft of other bogus businesses recently registered in both Milton Keynes and Wolverhampton.

All of them - like the fake firms in Henry Drive - purported to be involved in clothing sales and, except for the two mentioning Henry Drive, claimed to be run by "entrepreneurs" living outside the UK.

The idea behind such companies, he said, was either to launder money or to use the companies to obtain a bank account to take out loans.

Those accounts, Mr Barrow said, were usually opened abroad where regulation is less stringent than in the UK.

Companies House, which charges £12 for an internet business incorporation, said under current laws, if company paperwork is properly filed, signed and the registration fee paid, it has to be registered.

"It is bonkers," said Mr Barrow. "It is like having a front door that anybody can walk in but you have to prove you are who you say you are in order to walk out of your door.

"I think more than 100 people each day are affected by this thing. It is scandalous."

He urged anybody affected to contact Companies House and file the necessary paperwork to have their property removed from the company's registration details.

A spokesperson for Companies House said it would take action where the law allowed.

"The government is bringing forth measures to reform Companies House in the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill .

"Once in force, the bill will significantly enhance the role and powers of the Registrar of Companies, so she can become a more active gatekeeper over company registrations - including by cracking down on the use of false addresses."

Essex Police said it would urge residents affected to contact Action Fraud, an organisation run by City of London Police working with the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau.

"Action Fraud will assess such a report and ensure it reaches the right place, be it a police force, HMRC, or Companies House for further action," a spokesperson for Essex Police said.

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