Is there any legal recourse for online fraud?
Posted by admin | Filed under Law Ethics
I have been a member of Poetbay.com, a poetry site, for more than a year. Recently I was sent notice that my membership fee was due for another year. I paid the fee. Now less than a month later the site has shut down without notice. I know many others who also have paid their fees some within the last few days only to have the site close. Many have tried emailing the owner of the site without any success of getting a reply. What, if any, are my options legally?
August 1st, 2008 at 6:58 pm
If the company filed bankruptcy, you probably lost your money for good! Part of doing business, with nothing you can do about it. If they didn’t file for Bankruptcy, then you can probably sue them in small claims court.
You would need to get information on their corporation, like where they are located, the type of company they are (corporation, LLC, etc.) then file a law suit against them in the county for which they do business, for your damages (is it worth it?)
August 2nd, 2008 at 5:14 pm
If they collected your money in good faith (i.e., they didn’t know the site was going to be shut down) then what they did is perfectly legal, and you have no recourse, online or not. This is actually quite common. For example, if a magazine goes out of print, you lose the balance of your subscription.
If they collected the money in bad faith, and knew that the site was going to be shut down but didn’t tell you, then you have a case. This would be a good candidate for a class action.