How do I check if a company is registered in South Africa?

Log in to BizPortal (bizportal.gov.za), the CIPC website, and use the BizProfile search. Search by company name, registration number or a director's ID number. The result shows the registered name, type, status and registration date. You need a free CIPC customer login first, because CIPC requires one before any search under POPIA.

Can I check a company on CIPC without logging in?

Not any more. CIPC moved its enterprise search from eServices to BizPortal, where it is called BizProfile, and you now have to log in before searching. You can still read a registration number yourself without logging in: the first four digits are the year, the middle six are a sequence, and the last two are the company type.

What do the last two digits of a company registration number mean?

They are the entity type. 07 is a private company (Pty) Ltd, 06 a public company (Ltd), 08 a non-profit company (NPC), 21 a personal liability company (Inc), 23 a close corporation (CC), 10 an external (foreign) company, 30 a state-owned company (SOC Ltd), and 24 to 26 are co-operatives.

Does a CIPC registration prove a company is legitimate?

No. It proves the company legally exists. Registering one costs little and is quick, so scammers do it, and they also borrow the names of real registered companies. Check that the status is "In Business", that the contact details match the company's own website, and that anyone contacting you really works there.

How to Check if a Company Is Registered in South Africa (Free CIPC Check)

In short: Every South African company is on the CIPC register, and you can check one for free in two steps. First, read its registration number: YYYY/NNNNNN/NN is the year, a six-digit sequence and a two-digit type, where 07 means a private company, (Pty) Ltd. You can do that below without logging in. Second, confirm it on BizPortal, the CIPC website, using the BizProfile search: it shows the company's status, type, registration date and directors. CIPC now requires a free login before any search. A registration only proves a company exists, not that it is honest, so if a company is missing, deregistered, or its details do not match what you were told, stop.

Decode a registration number

Type the number they gave you. Nothing is sent anywhere; it is read on your phone.

Search CIPC on BizPortal →

You might be about to pay a deposit to a supplier, sign with a landlord or contractor, buy from an online shop you have never heard of, or answer a recruiter who contacted you out of the blue. The question is the same each time: does this company actually exist, and is it who it says it is?

Here is exactly how to check, for free. The number decoder above catches invented numbers in seconds. The BizPortal search below confirms the rest.

Why Company Verification Matters

In South Africa, every company, close corporation and co-operative is registered with CIPC, the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission. The registration is like a business ID. It proves a company legally exists. (A sole trader trading under their own name is the exception: they are not on the CIPC register at all.)

Scammers often invent company names that sound impressive but have no legal standing. "Premier Executive Placements (Pty) Ltd" might sound real, but if it's not registered, it doesn't exist.

Even when scammers do use registered company names, they're often impersonating real businesses. Checking the registration and cross-referencing contact details can expose the deception.

How to Search CIPC on BizPortal (BizProfile)

BizPortal is CIPC's own website, and its BizProfile search is where the company register now lives. The old search on CIPC eServices has been moved there.

Step-by-Step Instructions

Step 1: Go to www.bizportal.gov.za.

Step 2: Log in. CIPC now requires a login before any search, to comply with the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA). If you have never used CIPC before, register as a customer with your ID number; registering is free.

Step 3: Open BizProfile and search by:

Company name (or part of it)
Registration (enterprise) number
A director's ID number

Step 4: Open the result and check these key details:

Status: Should say "In Business." If it says "Deregistered" or "Final Deregistration," the company is no longer active.
Registration number: YYYY/NNNNNN/07 for a (Pty) Ltd. It should match the number you were given, digit for digit.
Type: Private company, NPC, close corporation and so on. It should match the name: a "(Pty) Ltd" is a private company.
Directors: The people legally responsible for the company
Registered address: The official business address on record

The basic search is free. What costs money are certified documents, such as a disclosure certificate, which you only need if a bank or a tender asks for one.

What to Look For

Green flags:

Status is "In Business"
Registration date is several years ago (established company)
Directors' names can be verified on LinkedIn
Registered address is a real commercial location

Red flags:

No results found for the company name
Status is "Deregistered"
Very recent registration (last few months)
Registered address is a residential area or virtual office
Directors can't be found anywhere online

Understanding Registration Numbers

South African company registration numbers follow this format:

YYYY/NNNNNN/NN

YYYY: the year the company was registered
NNNNNN: a six-digit sequence number for that year
NN: the type of entity

Shoprite Holdings, for example, is 1936/007721/06: registered in 1936, a public company. What the last two digits mean:

Ends in	Entity type	Name ends in

Two quick tells. A close corporation (23) registered after 2011 cannot exist, because no new CCs have been registered since the Companies Act 71 of 2008 took effect in May 2011. And the type has to match the name: a company calling itself "(Pty) Ltd" should have a number ending in 07. If someone gives you a registration number, search it directly; if it does not match the company name, something is wrong.

Cross-Referencing: The Critical Step

Here's where many people stop too early. Finding a company on CIPC doesn't automatically mean your contact is legitimate.

Scammers often do one of these things:

Use a completely fake company name (not registered at all)
Use a real registered company's name but fake the contact details
Register a shell company just for scamming purposes

You must cross-reference:

After finding the company on CIPC, compare:

What CIPC Shows	What the "Recruiter" Gave You	Match?
Company name	Company name in messages	Should be exact
Registered address	Address on job posting	Should match (or explain why)
Directors' names	Names of people contacting you	Should be verifiable
Domain (inferred)	Email domain they're using	@companyname.co.za, not Gmail

The Gmail Test

This is crucial. If a company is registered as "ABC Solutions (Pty) Ltd," their employees should have email addresses like:

john@abcsolutions.co.za ✓
recruitment@abcsolutions.co.za ✓

Not:

abcsolutions.recruitment@gmail.com ✗
abc.solutions.hr@yahoo.com ✗

A registered company using free email services for recruitment is a massive red flag. Either they're too unprofessional to work for, or (more likely) someone is impersonating them.

Verifying Physical Addresses

Scammers sometimes list fake addresses or use real addresses that have nothing to do with them.

Quick verification:

Copy the address from CIPC
Paste it into Google Maps
Use Street View to see the actual location
Does it look like a legitimate business premises?

If the registered address is a house in a residential neighborhood for a company claiming to be a major recruiter, be suspicious.

Which Register Should You Actually Check?

CIPC only tells you that a company legally exists. Depending on what the company claims to do, being registered with CIPC is not the register that matters. A "security company" that is on CIPC but not on PSIRA is not allowed to trade, and a "broker" that is not on the FSCA list is breaking the law. These are the checks that catch the scams CIPC misses.

If they claim to be	Check this register	Where
Any registered company	CIPC	bizportal.gov.za
A security company hiring guards	PSIRA	psira.co.za
A financial adviser, broker or investment firm	FSCA	fsca.co.za
A lender offering you a loan	NCR	ncr.org.za
A government supplier or tender agent	CSD	secure.csd.gov.za
An employer charging VAT on something	VAT registered vendor	SARS VAT vendor search

Two more that matter once you are actually offered a job. A real employer must be registered for UIF with the Department of Employment and Labour, and must be registered for COIDA (workmen's compensation) so you are covered if you are injured at work. If an "employer" cannot give you a UIF number, you are not being properly employed, whatever the offer letter says.

You can also ask whether the company is tax compliant. A genuine employer can produce a SARS tax compliance status PIN. A scammer cannot. And if a company name returns a result showing it is in liquidation or deregistered on CIPC, it legally cannot be hiring anyone.

How to Check if a Company Is Legit, Not Just Registered

Being registered and being legitimate are different things. Registering a company in South Africa costs a few hundred rand and takes a day, so scammers do register. CIPC tells you a company legally exists. It does not tell you whether it is trading honestly, or whether it is actually hiring.

Additional verification steps:

Check HelloPeter: Search the company name for reviews. Look for patterns of complaints about scams, non-payment, or fraud.

Check LinkedIn: Does the company have a LinkedIn page? Do employees list it as their workplace? Can you verify the person contacting you works there?

Check their website: Is it professional? Does the domain match the company name? How long has the website existed? (Use whois.domaintools.com)

Google the company name + "scam": See if others have reported problems.

Call them directly: Find the company's phone number from their official website (not from the recruiter). Call and ask if they're currently hiring for the position offered.

Specific Scenario: They Gave You a Registration Number

If a "recruiter" proactively shares a CIPC registration number, that's actually suspicious. Legitimate recruiters rarely do this unsolicited. It's usually a defensive move by scammers trying to appear credible.

Verify the number, but then verify everything else. The number being real doesn't mean the person contacting you has any connection to that company.

Specific Scenario: The Company Exists But Something's Off

You found the company on CIPC. It's legitimately registered. But:

The phone number the recruiter gave you isn't on the company website
Their email is Gmail, not company domain
The job isn't listed on the company's careers page
The salary offered is way above market rate

This is likely an impersonation scam. Someone is using a real company's name without authorization.

What to do:

Do not proceed with the "recruiter"
Contact the real company through their official website
Ask them about the job offer
Report the impersonation attempt to them

Specific Scenario: No Results on CIPC

If you search and find nothing, possibilities include:

The company doesn't exist
They're operating illegally without registration
They're a sole proprietor (registered differently)
You have the name slightly wrong

For legitimate companies, especially those claiming to be (Pty) Ltd, there should be a CIPC record. No record = major red flag.

Practice Exercise

Let's verify a company together. I'll use a major retailer everyone knows:

Search for: Shoprite Holdings

What you should see on BizProfile:

Name: Shoprite Holdings Limited
Status: In Business
Registration: 1936/007721/06 (06, a public company, which matches "Limited")
Directors: Listed
Address: Listed

Now compare this to their public information:

Website: shopriteholdings.co.za, which prints the same registration number ✓
The details match ✓

This is what a legitimate lookup looks like. Practice with companies you know before you need to verify one you don't.

Summary: Your Verification Checklist

Before engaging with any company offering employment:

☐ Searched company name on BizPortal/CIPC
☐ Status is "In Business"
☐ Registration number format is valid
☐ Cross-referenced registered address
☐ Verified contact email uses company domain (not Gmail)
☐ Checked HelloPeter for scam reports
☐ Confirmed job exists on company's official careers page
☐ Phone number matches official website

If any of these fail, proceed with extreme caution or walk away entirely.

Quick Links

BizPortal (BizProfile search): bizportal.gov.za/bizprofile.aspx
CIPC: www.cipc.co.za
HelloPeter: www.hellopeter.com
Report fraud: fraud@labour.gov.za

Want instant verification?
Our tool checks job postings against known scam patterns and helps you verify legitimacy in seconds.

Verify a Job Posting →

Steps verified: September 2026

Related Guides

Sources

Knowing how to verify companies is a skill that protects you for life. Bookmark this guide and use it every time.