Teenage entrepreneurs set to take internet firm to court

Nov 27 2008 by Andrew Mernin, The Journal

TWO teenage entrepreneurs have threatened legal action against internet payment firm PayPal after allegedly losing out on thousands of pounds worth of business because of fraudsters.

School mates James Lanceley and Daniel Melville, both 17, claim to have seen their online motorbike store pit-bike-world.co.uk lose around £10,000 at the hands of criminals using stolen credit card details.

The County Durham teenagers say they have been the victims of fraudulent buyers who paid for bikes with stolen card details and then switched the delivery address to their own.

Pit-bike-world.co.uk says it delivered five bikes to the fraudsters – all in the UK – but then, when the genuine credit card holders reclaimed the money, the refunds were taken from the online company’s accounts.

According to the company, it has since been unable to recoup the money or recover the stolen bikes and has been told by PayPal that there is nothing that can be done.

After taking legal advice, Lanceley and Melville will take their case to the Financial Ombudsman, and say they may eventually take legal action against the internet payment group.

Mr Lanceley said: “There is a current ongoing police investigation into the matter and we are also looking to seek legal advice as we are refusing to take the blame.”

A PayPal spokesperson said: “PayPal is looking into the case raised. However, at this time do not have a resolution. PayPal are unable to disclose details of buyer and sellers accounts.

“If the police are involved in investigating a case they can contact the PayPal Fraud Investigation Team.”

The Police confirmed that they had received details of the case but were unable to specify whether the investigation would ultimately result in civil or criminal court action.

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