Verify an Overseas Customer: Check the Company Before Advancing an Enquiry

Cross-check enquiries, domains, websites and registration records, separate verified facts from unknowns and request essential information in English.

A request for a container and an immediate quote does not automatically make someone a major buyer. A free email address does not automatically make them fraudulent. First separate the enquiry, company identity, business context and transaction requirements, then decide what to provide and ask.

Using a home-storage enquiry, you will create a buyer-verification card, outstanding questions and a courteous English verification email. These are basic business checks, not a credit guarantee based on online information.

01 · Preserve the original enquiry before asking AI for a verdict

Keep the original email in an approved system, including sender, received time, subject, body, attachment names and thread. For forms, record submission time, source page and lead ID. Screenshots cannot replace all originals, especially if only a translation survives.

First identify exactly what the buyer said:

Teaching example:
We are reviewing drawer organisers for our homeware range.
Could you share your available sizes and packaging options?
Our first order may be around 500 units, subject to sample approval.

This supports a request for sizes/packaging and a tentative quantity conditional on sample approval. It is not a confirmed 500-unit order and cannot justify procurement or a delivery promise.

Record product, quantity, timing and requested next step. Leave unstated items blank. Company research adds context; it must not turn unknowns into certainty.

02 · Compare the email domain with the official website

Compare the domain after @ with the supplied website. Watch for added/missing letters, lookalike characters and unfamiliar subdomains. Do not follow payment/login links blindly; type a verified official address or use an authoritative source.

Display names are editable and do not prove identity. A free email lacks domain-association evidence but is not automatically suspicious. Ask for the full company name, official website or formal business contact channel.

If the email belongs to an agency and the site to a brand, establish whether it is a buying agent, distributor, subsidiary or outsourced provider. Do not merge entities without an explained relationship.

Do not upload passwords, verification codes or full mail-authentication details to an ordinary AI chat. Have an administrator inspect technical details in approved tools; record only domain match, mismatch or unconfirmed here.

03 · Look for operating evidence, not just the company description

Review About, products/services, Contact, terms and company-information pages. Record business type, markets, sales channels and legal entity.

Kitchen products, store addresses and delivery areas form a coherent retail picture, but pages may be outdated and do not establish financial health. A new website is not automatically false; continue with verifiable information and actual communication.

Does the requested product relate to the existing business? A cutlery retailer asking about drawer storage makes sense. A software business ordering household goods may be expanding, but ask about the use case and buying role.

Write “official site lists kitchenware”, not “trustworthy company”. The first is checkable; the second invites colleagues to treat an impression as a conclusion.

04 · Verify available registration information through official registers

For UK companies, follow GOV.UK's company-information service to Companies House and search the legal name or company number. Compare name, status, registered office, incorporation date and public filings. Resolve similar names using numbers and entity relationships.

Registers differ by country; do not mechanically apply UK fields elsewhere. Active registration does not prove ability to pay or that the sender represents the company.

If the registered entity differs from the brand, check terms/footer for the operator; otherwise ask. Registered and warehouse addresses may legitimately differ if their purposes are explained.

If nothing matches, record “no matching registration found in this search”, with terms and date. Do not publicly label the business false or ask AI for a fraud determination. Use qualified credit, contract or compliance review for important transactions where needed.

05 · Attach a source and status to every conclusion

Lead ID | Claimed company | Website brand | Registered entity | Company number
Official URL | Register URL | Observation date | Sender-domain relationship
Current categories | Enquiry use case | Sender role | Demand certainty
Matches | Differences | Missing evidence | Next action | Reviewer

Use three statuses: supported by a checked source, unverified customer statement, or unknown. One score cannot explain all discrepancies. Company existence, representative authority, actual demand and acceptable terms are four separate questions.

Anonymise AI inputs: replace personal names with Contact A, remove unrelated private information and retain only necessary business facts.

Create a buyer-verification card from this enquiry and public company information. Do not browse to fill gaps, assign credit scores or decide whether it is a scam.
Classify each conclusion as source-supported, customer-stated or unknown. Compare company name, domain, categories, location, purchasing context and contact role.
For contradictions, show both source excerpts and IDs without resolving them by assumption. Give at most five follow-up questions, ranked by importance to this enquiry.
Original enquiry: [anonymised]
Website records: [URLs, dates, necessary excerpts]
Registration records: [if available]

06 · Ask normal business questions, not an interrogation

Ask only what is needed to move forward. Do not immediately demand licences, passports and unrelated documents. For a specification enquiry, provide useful specifications, then ask about intended use and company context.

Subject: Drawer organiser sizes and packaging requirements

Hi Alex,

Thank you for your enquiry. To prepare the relevant size and packaging information, could you share your company website and let us know whether the organisers are for retail, distribution or a specific project?

It would also help to know the required sizes and the delivery destination. We can then confirm which details need to be reviewed before arranging samples.

Best regards,
[Real name and company signature]

Replace the example name before sending. If sample provision is unconfirmed, change the final sentence to checking supply options rather than promising something unavailable.

Do not ask again for information already supplied. AI should clarify your questions, not send every customer the same questionnaire.

07 · Three common discrepancies and appropriate responses

Company/domain mismatch: ask about the relationship and, where necessary, verify through independently found official channels rather than only a new number in the email.

Large quantity but unclear specifications: confirm use, model, quantity unit and destination. Size does not equal completeness; offer specifications while details are missing, not a fixed delivery date.

A sudden bank-account change or third-party payment request: pause the transaction and have the responsible person verify through an established trusted channel. Do not let AI accept it or use a newly supplied link to “verify” the account.

Limited information is not automatically abnormal. Proceed only to a stage whose risk you can manage, such as exchanging public specifications. Complete the relevant checks before contracts, payment or shipment.

08 · Turn verification results into next actions

Relevant business, clear identity relationship and sufficiently complete needs: continue specification/sample discussions and retain the record.

Relevant but missing key details: ask two or three questions and mark requirements pending, not quoted or sold.

Unexplained entity/payment discrepancies: obtain responsible-person review before sensitive transaction steps.

Confirmed mismatch: explain your scope politely and record the exclusion so another colleague does not restart the same outreach.

09 · Completion checks and maintenance

Check entity existence separately from representative authority. Trace conclusions to sources, preserve conditions around quantities/samples/timing, retain unresolved discrepancies, ask only necessary questions and recheck transaction changes rather than relying forever on the first review.

Update the card when contacts, company names or use cases change. Add dated records rather than erasing previous facts, so handovers explain the decisions made at each stage.

10 · Separate the brand, company and warehouse

The common mistake is combining several records into a plausible story without proving the links. The following names and records are fictional teaching examples.

Inquiry M01: the sender claims to be Example Home’s purchasing agent, considering around 500 organizers subject to sample results. Website W01: Example Home is the trading brand and the footer identifies Example Retail Ltd as operator. Registry summary R01 gives that same legal name. The sender uses a separate agency domain and supplies a third-party warehouse address.

Record the website’s operator claim, registry information, claimed sender role and address purpose separately. Matching company names do not prove agency authority. A warehouse address differing from the registered office does not itself establish a problem.

A review card might say: operator names match in supplied summaries, original sources still to be checked; representative relationship is sender-stated only; warehouse purpose is unknown; quantity is around 500, conditional on sample results. Do not turn that into a 500-unit order.

Continue preparing public specifications while asking about the agency relationship, purchasing entity and warehouse purpose. Obtain the appropriate internal confirmations before disclosing non-public materials or proceeding with contractual or transaction arrangements.

Create verification-card.md and an English clarification draft from these fictional teaching records. Do not search, contact the buyer or assign a credit score.
M01: sender claims to represent Example Home as a purchasing agent, considering around 500 units subject to sample results; a different agency domain is used and no authorization explanation is supplied.
W01: website summary identifies Example Home as brand and Example Retail Ltd as operator.
R01: registry summary names Example Retail Ltd but includes no original registry URL or lookup date.
A01: third-party warehouse address, purpose and receiving entity unknown. These are examples, not verified real-company records.
Columns: issue, original wording, source ID, supported inference, unsupported inference and next step. Separate company existence, brand operation, representative authority, demand certainty and receiving arrangements.
The email should ask only the agency relationship, purchasing entity and warehouse purpose. Do not re-ask quantity or request irrelevant identity documents. State what can still be prepared and what needs an owner’s further confirmation. Matching names establish neither payment capacity nor an order; make no fraud allegation.

11 · Write the clarification and update the record

A concise draft is:

Thank you for the details. To keep our product information and records aligned, could you clarify your agency’s relationship with Example Home and which legal entity would make the purchase? Could you also confirm whether the warehouse address is intended for sample receipt or the later delivery arrangement? We can continue preparing the relevant size and packaging information while these details are clarified.

Replace example entities and remove questions already answered. This is an unsent editorial draft. A buyer’s explanation of agency status is still buyer-stated, not independently verified. If further confirmation is required, an owner should use an independently established official business channel.

Retain date, original wording and source for every update. A statement that a warehouse receives samples updates that address purpose only; it does not confirm every address or the future contracting and bulk-delivery entities.

If the explanation conflicts with the original message, create D01 with both statements and an owner to resolve it. AI should describe the difference, not choose whichever version makes the table look complete.

Keep a current-conclusions section and a change log. A colleague can see the active status and why it changed. Retain superseded records as historical sources rather than treating them as proof of current operations.

Avoid three substitutions: company registration for sender authority, relevant business for confirmed purchasing budget, and an explained address for approval of payment or shipment requests. Each requires its own evidence.

The handoff should identify what was checked against original sources, what is merely stated by the buyer, what remains open and which next step is supported. This is more useful than a reliable/unreliable label.

Official resources

GOV.UK: get company information

Companies House company register