Urgent! SERIOUS PLEASE !! I have a child under 16 who has gained credit on internet and owes over 锟?

my child lied about their age on the internet, and i dont know how the company operates but they have sent a letter stating that she owes 锟?00 for signing up to an internet site that offers free texts. Can this site do this? She gave a false name and age but they have written on the letter they have our IP and although the false name is there they have our address too. I have searched for answers on the internet and a forum has been setup for people who have also been affected by this but it has little help.Anybody under the age of 18 cant join tho It states on the site that a person over 18 scan verify this on behalf, either over the phone or internet using credit card but none of this was done, now a letter has came through saying that money is owed and when i called the helpdesk and mentioned and she was under 18 and used a different name so how, they said they would get solicitors involved and threatened to call the police saying its identity fraud,

GUIDENCE AND ADVISE PLZ!!

Urgent! SERIOUS PLEASE !! I have a child under 16 who has gained credit on internet and owes over 锟?00?business loan

call them or e-mail them and tell them that she%26#039;s under 16 and it was illegal of them to provide her with there services, you won%26#039;t have to pay a cent!

Urgent! SERIOUS PLEASE !! I have a child under 16 who has gained credit on internet and owes over 锟?00? loan

well seeing child did it i don%26#039;t think court can do anything.|||no worries, the site is to blame as they should have done a credit check. tell them to eff off, they don%26#039;t have a leg to stand on.|||exactly like AFwife said.|||Call them and tell them firmly that is was under 18 and therefore a minor and it was up to them to verify her true age and name. There%26#039;s nothing they can do to you legally. Also tell them to not contact you by phone anymore. They will bug you for awhile longer hoping they can scare you into paying, but be tough, you don%26#039;t have to.|||HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA|||well u should check all the websites she goes on and if they sue tell them she has some sort of mental illnes and doesnt know wat she doing it totally work all she has to do is act retarted|||I child under 18 can not sign a legal document. Call the police your self. It is not identity fraud as a minor can not commit the crime.

The police will look into the internet company and fine them for allowing a minor to sign up. The burdon of proof is on them.|||First of all, don%26#039;t panic. I very much doubt the police will be interested.

Don%26#039;t quote me, but I%26#039;m pretty sure that no one under-18 can be held to a credit agreement. It really is the company%26#039;s own fault for not carrying out proper checks.

However, I think you should pay them, and take it out of her allowance. It%26#039;s more worrying that she%26#039;s been lying like this.|||They have no rights a minor can not sign or agree to any kind of contract. They may keep harassing you trying to scare you in to paying but you have no obligation to do so. Tell them if they dont cease calling you you will get your lawyer involved. I%26#039;m sure that will scare them off plus if it was only for 100.00 they wont bother suing you over it they would spend more trying to collect the money then what is owed to them.|||Send proof of the child%26#039;s age (photocopy the birth certificate?) to the credit card company. Explain you are her mother and ask them to destroy the account or you will go to governmental authorities because they issued credit to someone under age.|||i smell FRAUD!|||You have two options.

1 - Contact a lawyer. Since you allowed your child to use the internet, you may be liable for her misconduct.

2 - Since the charges are so low, it would probably be cheaper to pay these people (assuming that your child really did do this), and make her pay you back to learn a lesson.

I am really for option two. She is old enough to know better and should learn a hard lesson from this. Going to work day after day just to pay for this stunt will definitely keep her from doing it again. If you get her out of it by saying it wasn%26#039;t her fault because she%26#039;s 16, she%26#039;ll do similar stupid stuff again.|||I had this same problem when my daughter was 15. She didn%26#039;t owe as much , but I have never had to pay any of her debt and the company had to wipe it as they did not check that she was over 18. Children can not be liable if they are not old enough to have a credit card. The company is at fault. Write them a letter to explain this and seek advice the the citizen advice bureau.

Good luck|||They are bluffing. They wouldn%26#039;t go to court because you would alert the Daily Mail and the paper would be %26#039;all over them%26#039;. Keep a copy of all your correspondence, and if you feel brave enough, write back saying you have placed the matter in the hands of your family solicitor who will be contacting them shortly. I wouldn%26#039;t bother phoning - you will just get all stressed and have no record of what was said. You could see what the local police have to say, or Trading Standards, or the Which? people.|||If she is under 18 and can%26#039;t use the website she doesn%26#039;t owe them a thing. Just don%26#039;t pay it and if they try to take it to court you%26#039;ll win.|||Hi The contract is not legally binding it is the fault of the company seek legal advice from education welfare or citizen bearu good luck|||When your child signed up to this site, they broke the Ts %26amp; Cs by signing up under a differnt name. It is quite a big offence to commit identity fraud, and although your child is under 16, if they pretended to be over 18 and effectively lied to get the product, then that is a criminal offence. You would need to give more detail, however, to determine whether it was the companys neglegence (I.E. not requiring correct identification) or your child trying to outsmart them.|||I agree with all the answers. They didn%26#039;t check to make sure she was 18 . I%26#039;m sure if this was to go any further (court) they would lose or they will make her an example to other kids that do this and say she should have known better. Either way they didn%26#039;t check and to me that is their problem.I also think if worse case and you don%26#039;t have the money to pay for it and to teach her a lesson the courts will give her community service.|||I don%26#039;t think they can make her pay up, but you should.

She gave a false name, so she knew she was doing wrong, she needs to learn that she can%26#039;t do this.

Also, I think that it%26#039;s fraud and as such she could be prosecuted and start her grown-up life with a criminal record.|||In America, a contract is not legally binding unless you are a legal adult (age 18, of course). If that is how it works in your country, then she does not legally owe this company anything and, they can be sued for soliciting a minor. There systems are suppose to weed through information that consumers give them to make sure it is legit. When I was 14, I signed up for the 12 CD%26#039;s free. They never asked for my age but, when I started getting bills in the mail to fullfil my commitment with them my mom called a lawyer. Not only was this company sued by us, but the $300 bill didn%26#039;t have to be paid and I got to keep all the CD%26#039;s because I was a minor. I didn%26#039;t know any better back then and didn%26#039;t think I was doing anything wrong. I did have a job and intended on paying for it, I just didn%26#039;t know when.|||contact you local citezen advice office.

They will be able to help.

Am am sure that the company should have to prove they are selling to an adult and not the other way around.

Good luck.|||I%26#039;m NO expert but what I would to suggest is not to panic. All these finance companies use harsh wording to scare people. I think they haven%26#039;t got a case. Be totally belligerent. Let them call the police if they want to, this is why we have a justice system in our country, so the person in the right (i.e. you) will end up on top .

Take a look at this website: http://www.cccs.co.uk/

They are the consumer credit counselling service, and they are a charity. They will have the correct answer for you so make sure you ask them about it!|||OK. I see you are talking in quid, not in dollars. Are you in the US? If so, a child must be over the age of 18 to be bound to a contract. I don%26#039;t know know the law is in the UK, but if you are in the US, payment of the debt. probobly will not be mandated, due to the age of the kid and contract law. You%26#039;ll probobly have to talk to an attorney for further advice about this matter.|||If I were you, I would pay the money and punish your daughter and make her work to pay off the money. Legally you may not have to, but she is old enough to know better. She made a conscientious decision to lie and you rescuing her from it will not teach her anything. If you don%26#039;t want to pay this company I would understand that because they were negligent in this situation. If you can legally get around paying them, have your daughter pick a charity and work to donate an equal amount of money to that charity. Don%26#039;t just get her off the hook without paying.|||I would contact a solicitor or go to the citizens advice bureau as surely they can%26#039;t bill someone that does not exsist.|||if your child%26#039;s under 18 there is nothing the site can do they should have ensured that they were not letting children use it. it will be laughed out of court- that%26#039;s if it even gets that far they are probably just trying to scare you. don%26#039;t worry about it. (hope it sorts itself out for you) xx|||THEY DONT HAVE A CASE.

They are talking out of their rears.

Call them up again and tell them that YOU will call the police if they dont compensate you for their abusive behaviour. If that doesnt work, then grab a bloody baseball bat and smash their teeth in.|||Do not pay them anything,if they threaten you with court,tell to go ahead,they are just trying to scare you.If they contact you again tell them you will go to the trading standards people,after all,they should have done a credit check.|||I got a buddy round, he%26#039;s a financial adviser but has some legal knowledge: It is identity fraud, and as the child is under the legal age for this credit, You parent would probably be expected by the company to pay up.

On the other hand, that is so far only the companies opinion. the person on the other end should certainly have not made legal threats on the phone. This should have been done by a solicitor. I Don%26#039;t know the details of what they have said to you, but it sounds like there being a bit forward concidering what they are asking for! How did your child get credit with a false name! That sounds like their problem. Although credit is set agianst the address, and not a individual.

As i don%26#039;t know the situation in and out, i would prehaps get some advice anyway, especially about the ID fraud, just for safety! DON%26#039;T PANIC OVER IT! Just be diplomatic if you can, i%26#039;m sure it%26#039;s fixable.

Prehaps they should have been a bit more secure at least before my dog learns to type.|||This sounds like a scam. A reputable company would have done a credit check. Your child is under age and so can%26#039;t be prosecuted. The only problem you might have is if your child pretended to be you and used your credit card to verify.

If this isn%26#039;t the case then ignore them. They%26#039;re trying to intimidate you. It%26#039;s easy for them to pester you but taking you to court will be costly, time-consuming and a waste of time. I%26#039;d be very surprised if they bothered to do it.

Hope your child understands the worry she%26#039;s caused you!