Lone e-tailer starts crusade against Yahoo! and Hotmail

A UK e-tailer has resorted to naming and shaming Hotmail and Yahoo! on his website after the companies failed to de-activate email accounts owned by people using stolen credit card details.

Andrew Goodwill, MD of ukcomputerparts.com, has been inundated with orders originating from Yahoo! and Hotmail accounts.

The orders contain credit card details which Goodwill is unable to process because they have been blocked by the credit card companies on the grounds they are fraudulent.

But Goodwill has contacted Hotmail and Yahoo! but has so far only received an automated response to his emailed complaints.

Hotmail claims it will respond to such queries first with an automated reply, and will then have a member of staff follow this up within 24 hours. But Goodwill claims he is still awaiting the call.

Yahoo!'s legal department explained that while it takes issues of fraud very seriously, it is "not a significant problem".

However, this statement is heavily disputed by Kate Fox, technology legal specialist at Eversheds law firm.

She said: "I'm very surprised by this seeing as credit card fraud generally is on the increase. Yahoo! is in a difficult position because of the possibility of malicious complaints but even still should take allegations of fraud seriously."

Li-Yen Goh, head of Yahoo!'s legal department, suggested Goodwill email details of the suspected criminals, including credit card numbers, to Yahoo!

However, Goodwill has so far refused to do this for fear of breaching the Data Protection Act (DPA). Goh, on the other hand, argued it is commonly known this would not be the case.

Fox disagreed. She said the Act can be woolly when it comes to ascertaining when it is illegal to pass on credit card and other details to a third party other than the police.

"The DPA is fairly stringent and he's [Goodwill] right to be worried about sharing that information with Yahoo! It's not clear what you can and can't do with the information - it's a bit of a foggy area."

Goodwill has also contacted the police but was told by an Inspector from his local constabulary that the resources were not available to follow-up his claims.

A very frustrated Goodwill has now resorted to building a website dedicated to the matter. At yournicked.co.uk he invites visitors to share any similar problems they might have had.

Visit Mr Goodwill's site here http://www.yournicked.co.uk