— Professional research access
Research Membership
Deeper investigative research for approved professionals: the Tracer research system, unpublished research and legal research support.
Built for solicitors, investigators, compliance teams, journalists, researchers and other verified users doing legitimate legal, investigative, due-diligence or public-interest work. Every application is checked by a person. Paying never guarantees access.
- Identity verified
- Purpose reviewed
- No say over entries
Research Membership · fee
On application
The fee is confirmed when your application is approved. What you can see follows the permissions you are given.
Membership buys research access. It never buys influence over our investigations, reporting or editorial decisions.
Apply for Research Membership →No. 01What membership may include
Shaped by approval and by the permissions you are given.
- ITracerOur restricted research system for following people, companies and the connections between them.
- IIUnpublished researchPermission-based access to desk research that has not been published.
- IIIPeople and company look-upsSearch the records we hold and the links we have mapped across them.
- IVCourt and case researchTrace related claims, prosecutions, regulatory action and the documents behind them.
- VEvidence submissionsSend further material and documents to the desk for verification.
- VIRecord review requestsAsk, with evidence, for a correction, update or amendment. You may request a review; you have no say in editorial decisions.
- VIIHelp from the deskGuidance on reading complex records, within the scope of your membership.
I.Tracer
Look beyond the public file.
Approved Research Members receive permission-based access to Tracer, the research system built in-house by UK Scam.
Tracer supports structured research into people, companies and the entities around them. Depending on the records that exist, the jurisdiction and your permissions, results may cover identity details, company links, directors and persons with significant control, claims and cases, regulator matters, related entities and other documented connections.
Tracer is a research aid. Nothing it returns proves, on its own, that anyone ran a scam, committed a crime or did any civil wrong.
II.Unpublished research
Material that never appears on the public site.
We may hold research that it would be inappropriate or unnecessary to publish.
Approved members may be given access to selected internal research, structured records, source references, historical information and other professional material, depending on their permissions.
Not every member sees everything. Access can be narrowed for reasons of confidentiality, privacy, legal privilege, source protection, security, contract or law.
Membership is not a right to inspect our whole investigative file.
III.People and company research
Start from a name. Follow what is documented.
Members can research people and organisations through our research systems. Depending on the subject and the evidence, results may point to:
Name matches and suggested links must be checked independently. A result never confirms that two people with similar names are the same person.
IV.Court and case research
Support for work on cases and court files.
Membership can support professional work on legal cases, court proceedings and claim records.
Where the information exists, members may find proceedings linked to a person or company and review the case details, sources and our research around them.
We do not replace official court services, formal disclosure or the legal research a particular case needs. Anything you intend to rely on in proceedings should be confirmed at the official source.
V.Company and money-trail research
Understand the businesses behind a scheme.
Members may use our tools to examine company structures and documented business relationships relevant to an enquiry.
That can include companies, directors, registered shareholders, declared control, related entities, filing histories and cross-border links.
An overseas company, a long ownership chain, a dormant company or a business connection is not, by itself, a sign of anything unlawful. Every conclusion must stay tied to the evidence.
VI.Adding evidence
Members can add to an entry, not dictate it.
Research Members may send further information, documents and source material about an existing or possible UK Scam entry.
That might be court papers, regulator material, company records, contracts, correspondence, payment records or other relevant evidence.
Everything submitted goes through our normal checks. Membership does not make your material presumed accurate, and does not guarantee that it will be published.
VII.Review requests
Ask for a change. Bring the evidence.
Members may send documented requests about information in a UK Scam entry.
If you find a factual error, mistaken identity, a later judgment, a dismissal, an acquittal, a corrected filing or another important development, send the supporting evidence for review.
Where the evidence justifies a correction, clarification, update or change of grade, we may amend the entry.
A request, not editing rights
VIII.Legal research support
Professional help when an entry gets complicated.
Eligible members may be put in touch with a designated legal professional for research support, within the scope of their membership.
That can mean help reading legal records, organising evidence, finding relevant proceedings, reviewing documents and working through conflicts in the available record.
If a matter needs formal legal advice, representation or services specific to a jurisdiction beyond the membership, a separate engagement may be required.
No solicitor-client relationship
IX.Evidence analysis
Making a pile of documents readable.
Members may ask for help understanding how different documents fit together.
A file might hold a complaint, a later court order, a Companies House filing and a regulator notice that appear to concern the same subject. We can help put them in order and explain what each one actually establishes.
The aim is never to hand you a finished conclusion.
X.Research across jurisdictions
Complicated matters rarely stay in one place.
Research may draw on records from several jurisdictions, including the three legal systems within the United Kingdom. Depending on availability and permissions, members may use our resources to examine cross-border company structures, proceedings, entities and documented relationships.
Legal terms, which records exist, privacy rules and what a document proves all differ between jurisdictions. We never assume that a record from one place means the same thing in another.
XI.Who it is for
People with a genuine professional, investigative or public-interest purpose.
That may include:
- Solicitors and barristers
- working on cases, disputes or due diligence.
- Investigators
- looking into people, companies and documented relationships.
- Compliance and risk teams
- carrying out lawful professional research.
- Journalists and researchers
- investigating matters of genuine public interest.
- Public bodies and law enforcement
- needing approved access to investigative research.
- Other professionals
- considered case by case, based on intended use.
XII.Every application is reviewed
This is not an open people-search service.
Applications are reviewed before any access is granted. We may ask for what we reasonably need to verify your:
Access may be limited to what your role and research genuinely need.
We may refuse, limit, suspend or end access where needed to protect sources, the people we cover, our systems, data, legal obligations or the integrity of our research.
XIII.Permitted use
Lawful, authorised purposes only.
Research Membership and Tracer may be used only for lawful, authorised purposes.
Members must not use our systems for unlawful discrimination, harassment, stalking, intimidation, identity theft, unlawful surveillance or any other prohibited conduct.
Members must comply with the data protection, privacy and confidentiality laws that apply to them, including UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018 where relevant.
Tracer returning a piece of information does not make every later use of it lawful.
XIV.Research is not a verdict
A search result is not a finding of guilt.
Tracer and our research resources may contain or point to allegations, proceedings, associations, historical information and other material that never led to a legal decision. Members must keep these apart:
Check every result against its source before drawing any conclusion with real consequences.
UK Scam does not decide criminal guilt, civil liability or regulatory responsibility.
XV.Membership and editorial independence
Access never buys influence.
Research Membership is kept financially and editorially separate from our publishing decisions. Being a member gives no right to:
- remove an accurate entry;
- stop an investigation;
- suppress evidence;
- choose an evidence grade;
- approve editorial copy;
- demand favourable coverage; or
- obtain a correction the evidence does not support.
Documents from members are judged by exactly the same evidence rules as documents from anyone else.
Evidence can change an entry. A membership cannot. Independence policy
XVI.Confidentiality and access controls
Your login is yours alone.
Member access may involve identity checks, role-based permissions, access controls and activity logs.
Logins are personal and must never be shared with anyone who is not authorised.
We may restrict particular information for reasons of confidentiality, privacy, source protection, professional duty or law.
Membership waives no protection that applies to confidential or privileged material.
Apply for access
Three steps to apply
- ITell us who you areLegal name, professional email, organisation, role and jurisdiction.
- IITell us whyWhat you intend to research, and any relevant professional credentials.
- IIIWe check, then decideWe may ask for further verification. No payment is taken until you are approved.
Approval is not guaranteed. Access may come with further terms, permissions and limits on use.
Membership notice
Research Membership provides access to professional research services and tools. It does not guarantee that information exists about any particular person or company, that any database is complete, how an investigation will end, or that anything will be admissible in legal proceedings. Check anything you obtain from UK Scam against its underlying sources, and use it only as the law allows.