I recently finished some freelance flying with a British company. At no point did they ever ask to see my licence or medical.
a commercial operator ?
in germany , flying commercial, you have to be listed in the company and reported to the LBA as being employed there, also when flying freelance for this company.
this will ( should ) remove any faked licences or medicals since they will check the licence number. a rating entry into the licence is also issued only by the LBA , but a line check can be put manually by the examiner into the licence.
this applies like said only when flying commercially. freelancing private for an owner may look indeed different.
is it different in uk ?