Register of European companies: scam or commercial offer?

Updated March 29, 2026 - Many newly created companies receive letters or emails asking them to pay for registration in a supposed register of European companies. In practice, two hypotheses must be distinguished: either a more or less misleading commercial offer, or a scam. The bad reflex consists of paying too quickly while believing in an obligatory formality.

The DGCCRF has been warning for several years about false registration letters in the RCS or in para-official registers. One of the économie.gouv.fr files explicitly recalls the RCS registration scam. Another notice warns that some sites charge unjustified fees for company registrations or changes.

At the same time, Entreprendre.Service-Public recalls that the RNE has been the sole registration body since 2023 for French entities carrying out an economic activity.

To complete, see Déclaration of beneficial owners, Business creation: expert formula and Tax verification.

Ask yourself four simple questions:

• does the organization clearly state that this is a commercial offer?
• does it refer to an official site at .gouv.fr?
• is he asking you for urgent payment for a registration already allegedly due?
• does it create confusion with the RCS, the RNE, the INPI or a public service?

When the letter clearly indicates that it is a paid offer for private referencing, we are not necessarily involved in criminal fraud, but often in an offer that is of little use. When there is confusion about the obligatory nature of the formality, the risk of scam is much greater.

• do not pay in a hurry;
• check the site and domain;
• compare with official channels;
• ask for an opinion before any payment.

Hayot Expertise Advice: if a letter plays on administrative fear and urgency, it must be treated as suspicious until its nature is clarified.

We help managers verify the actual formalities, identify incidentals and secure their legal obligations of creation or modification.

Quick link: Have your formalities and administrative letters checked

Suspicious mail often relies on confusion. It borrows administrative language, sometimes imitates the look of public services and creates the impression that payment is urgent or mandatory. The goal is simple: get paid quickly, before anyone checks whether the formality really exists.

Checks to make before paying#

Before paying anything, five concrete points should be checked: the sender's identity, the website address, whether a commercial offer is clearly stated, whether the formality is actually mandatory, and whether the message matches official channels. A real public formality always sits in an identifiable framework.

Three situations need to be separated. First, a private commercial offer is clearly advertised. It may be useless or poorly presented, but it is not automatically fraud. Second, the message deliberately blurs the line between a private service and a mandatory formality. Third, the letter is plainly misleading and seeks payment on a false basis.

In practice, the more a letter plays on administrative fear, the more it should be slowed down. A business has no interest in paying for a document it could not check in a few minutes.

If payment has already gone out, act quickly but calmly: keep the evidence, identify the sender, verify the exact service promised and, if needed, ask for advice before sending any further reply. It can also help to report the case when the message is clearly misleading.

The right reflex is therefore not to assume the worst, but to put the letter back into context. Entreprendre.Service-Public recalls that the RNE is the sole registration body for the entities concerned, which helps separate real procedure from background noise.

The right reflex is always the same: never pay before checking the legal basis of the letter. A real formality can be traced, linked to an identifiable public service and matched with official channels. If a document lacks that clarity, it should be treated as suspicious until proven otherwise.

Questionable letters often appear right after incorporation, a change of director or an administrative update. That is when companies are most vulnerable, because they often want to close the admin side quickly. A simple verification habit prevents that pressure from turning into an unnecessary payment.

Check the sender, confirm whether a real formality exists and compare it with official sources. That is often enough to avoid a mistake. If one of those three checks is missing, the letter should be set aside until confirmed.

If the message creates pressure or confusion, it is better to wait. A few minutes of checking are always better than making an irreversible payment too quickly.

The right sorting always happens before payment, not after. When in doubt, the simplest move is to set the document aside and start again from official channels.

The best defence stays the same: read, check, compare and only then decide. That simple method protects better than reacting instantly to a letter that mostly tries to profit from stress.

A manager mainly benefits from keeping the habit of checking before replying. It is simple, fast and far less costly than paying blindly.

A quick check also helps separate a harmless private offer from something that tries to look mandatory. That small pause is often enough to stop an unnecessary payment and keep the company focused on real obligations. This keeps the response practical.

In 2026, a “register of European companies” letter must never be paid reflexively. The real question is simple: is it a mandatory formality, a commercial offer or an attempt at deception?

(Official sources: economie.gouv.fr - fake sites and administrative scams, Entreprendre.Service-Public.fr - RNE)