# Fake co-op acquisition **URL:** \ **Category:** News and announcements\ **Tags:** awareness\ **Created:** [25 September 2023 11:49 UTC](https://forum.workers.coop/t/fake-co-op-acquisition/600 "2023-09-25T11:49:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Sion](https://forum.workers.coop/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Sion](https://forum.workers.coop/u/Sion)\ **Post date:** [25 September 2023 11:49 UTC](https://forum.workers.coop/t/fake-co-op-acquisition/600/1 "2023-09-25T11:49:06Z")
Just received this letter from a business acquisition company claiming to be a co-op. Have looked them up on companies house and it appears to be a standard company with 1 shareholder, one director and one PSC. Is it worth replying with a warning that ‘co-operative’ is a sensitive term in English business law, or should it just be ignored? 🧐 ![Inked20230925_124019](https://forum.workers.coop/uploads/default/original/1X/a3875e0c6e9480456d8a9515ce0a73749e09ce09.jpeg) ---
**Author:** ![AthertonJohn](https://forum.workers.coop/user_avatar/forum.workers.coop/athertonjohn/32/99_2.png) [@AthertonJohn](https://forum.workers.coop/u/AthertonJohn)\ **Post date:** [25 September 2023 13:21 UTC](https://forum.workers.coop/t/fake-co-op-acquisition/600/2 "2023-09-25T13:21:57Z")
I assume you don’t want to sell you your business? If not just respond with: - I checked on companies house and you are not a co-operative. - You may have referred to yourself as a co-operative without realising it is a “Sensitive” word [Annex A: Sensitive words and expressions that require prior approval to use in a company or business name - GOV.UK](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/incorporation-and-names/annex-a-sensitive-words-and-expressions-or-words-that-could-imply-a-connection-with-government#co-operative) - I would suggest you don’t do so again or you run the risk of being taken to court for passing off as a business you are not. I used to send those sorts of emails all the time at Co-operatives UK and 9/10 it was becuase they just thought co-op sounded ethical and didn’t realise… ---
**Author:** ![Yuliy](https://forum.workers.coop/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/y/7bcc69/32.png) [@Yuliy](https://forum.workers.coop/u/Yuliy)\ **Post date:** [25 September 2023 18:13 UTC](https://forum.workers.coop/t/fake-co-op-acquisition/600/3 "2023-09-25T18:13:01Z")
When I read this text, it sounded a bit lacking in depth. So I checked it with two GPT detectors and they put the probability of being generated by a neural network at 60-70%. So the sender’s intention is probably just to send generic letters, and the mention of co-operatives may also be a GPT inserted term. ---
**Author:** ![danholden](https://forum.workers.coop/user_avatar/forum.workers.coop/danholden/32/67_2.png) [@danholden](https://forum.workers.coop/u/danholden)\ **Post date:** [26 September 2023 11:22 UTC](https://forum.workers.coop/t/fake-co-op-acquisition/600/4 "2023-09-26T11:22:28Z")
We get loads (probably one a week) of these company acquisition emails/letters at Unicorn, as far as I can tell they’re entirely auto-generated from information scraped from companies house/the FCA or some other directory we’re in. Occasionally they’ll sprinkle some keywords like ‘co-operative’ (or ‘organic’ in our case) to make it seem more authentic, like Yuliy suggests that might be done via ChatGPT or the like. I just ignore them as I assume there’s unlikely to be a human on the other end who is actually responsive to anything I might say, and like email spam, replying will just indicate there is someone there to contact further and further paint a target on ourselves. ---
**Author:** ![AthertonJohn](https://forum.workers.coop/user_avatar/forum.workers.coop/athertonjohn/32/99_2.png) [@AthertonJohn](https://forum.workers.coop/u/AthertonJohn)\ **Post date:** [26 September 2023 14:36 UTC](https://forum.workers.coop/t/fake-co-op-acquisition/600/5 "2023-09-26T14:36:01Z")
Well you learn something new everyday! Capitalism is so shameless…