Im a bit stuck Small claims court(i am 17).

[watercoolednoob]

Hi guys im new here ,

i signed up because im being threatened to be taken to a small claims court.

 

A long story short

1 or 2 years ago i met a guy on gumtree (that had bought a computer off me) and he had asked whether i could supply him with a large amount of computer components,

 

me being not being mature and silly i accepted this and we talked over email for a bit to confirm details.

After that he had transferred over £70k into my bank and what we agreed is that i give him a certain amount of computer components each week which i did for several months until the guy supplying me with the cheap components stole a large sum of cash from me which was so stupid of me. i was left with £25k left and £40k worth of components left to give him.

 

I got scared at this time

i lost communication with my customer and pretended it didn't exist.

 

at the time i was doing GCSEs and wanted to focus on the exams at the time.

after the exams i had gained enough confidence to contact him and explain what had happened

 

he agreed that i could just give the rest of his money back by paying £2.5k a week,

what i did was i put the money into crypto trading and i spent hours upon hours on the trading site and most cases only getting a couple hours sleep but i was making just enough for the £2.5k a week

 

i continued paying him off for a few months until my trading account got hacked and all my money was stolen

(i did file a police report to action fraud but nothing happened) and the website owners said they could not do anything.

 

The customer asked what had happened to the payments after i had not made that weeks payment i panicked and blocked his email address and all was good for 6 months im doing a-levels atm (physics,chemistry and computer science).

 

I was really enjoying life without the stress.

Recently i got an email from his brothers email stating that i had owed £12k and that i can pay it now or pay £14k in small claims court .

 

I am more than willing to pay this off and had no intention of taking his money but tbh i was scared out my mind.

the problem is i am a 17 full time student doing really hard a-levels that require my full time and i currently dont have a job and have like £30 in my bank.

 

i dont have many possessions as i had sold most of it to make my final £2.5k payment.

i have a average computer, an iphone 5c and a good pair of headphones .

 

I am just asking for what i should do in my position as i did some research and i read something about how you cant make a claim against a child and how you cant make a claim above £10k

is this true

if not how would i go about this as im not going to lie i have no clue on what to do.

 

I would greatly appreciate any advice with this.

 

Many thanks in advance.

[dx100uk]

I doubt he'll go anywhere near a courtroom door.

 

it is a well known sc@m and I would expect the money that was hacked away from you was them in both instances anyway.

 

its almost like this is a student legal project question TBH.

don't mean this funny like..but its word for word on the numerous descriptions of how this sc@m works you can find online.

 

dx

[watercoolednoob]

I doubt he'll go anywhere near a courtroom door.

 

it is a well known sc@m and I would expect the money that was hacked away from you was them in both instances anyway.

 

its almost like this is a student legal project question TBH.

don't mean this funny like..but its word for word on the numerous descriptions of how this sc@m works you can find online.

 

dx

 

ok thanks for the help dude.

[Andyorch]

While anyone under 18 cannot sue by themselves (except for wages), they can be sued. If your defendant is a child (i.e. under 18), you should specify this as follows: 'James Smith, a child by [insert name of parent currently responsible for them] ... their litigation friend'.

 

It would be wise to check whether the parents have legal responsibility for the acts or debts of the child. If they do, they should also be named as defendants.

 

And you can make a claim for over 10K....it simply changes the track from small claims claims to fast track.

 

Andy

[watercoolednoob]

How do i know weather my parents have legal responsibility

[Andyorch]

Parental responsibility

 

Parental responsibility means being responsible for:

 

l Your child’s wellbeing

l Looking after your child

l Feeding and clothing your child

l Making decisions about their schooling

l Deciding whether to consent to medical treatment

l Representing them in legal proceedings

l Making decisions about where to live

l Making decisions about their religious upbringing.

[watercoolednoob]

Parental responsibility

 

Parental responsibility means being responsible for:

 

l Your child’s wellbeing

l Looking after your child

l Feeding and clothing your child

l Making decisions about their schooling

l Deciding whether to consent to medical treatment

l Representing them in legal proceedings

l Making decisions about where to live

l Making decisions about their religious upbringing.

 

so lets assume he takes me to court and wins what do i do how does this actually affect me would it affect me getting a student loan for university etc.

[king12345]

Someone you met on gumtree gave you, a 17 yo, £70k so you could be the middle man to by some cheap stuff that he could buy himself directly.

This businessman is either mad or this is a made up story.

[watercoolednoob]

he is mad i guess.

[unclebulgaria67]

Go to the local Police station with all of the details, as to me this seems like something that needs to be investigated.

[dx100uk]

might pay you to get a crime ref number by contacting actionfraud website

[king12345]

Go to the local Police station with all of the details, as to me this seems like something that needs to be investigated.

 

I bet 5 shillings that the police would say: "Civil matter".

And this time they'll be right!

[honeybee13]

might pay you to get a crime ref number by contacting actionfraud website

 

 

OP says he did that in post #1, is it worth another try?

 

 

HB