The outcome of yesterday's Circuit Court case brings an end to a two year battle between Thomas Gear Jewellers and AIB over who should meet the cost of a fraudulent credit card payment. Thomas Gear emerged victorious and AIB must now repay £4,000 it had debited from the company's account for accepting a fraudulent credit card payment.

The Dublin-based wholesale jewellers had received three payments over a three month period for jewellery which was ordered over the phone with a credit card registered to a US citizen.

Each payment was authorised by the bank and the jewellery was delivered to a designated postal address.

The fraud was only detected after some months by the card holder who was immediately reimbursed the sum of £4,000 by the bank which had issued the credit card. AIB, which facilitated the transaction through its credit card division, in turn sought to recover the sum from the retailer.

Commenting on the outcome yesterday, the bank pointed out that the judge had not made an order on the terms of its contracts with retailers and it had lost the action because it could not prove it could charge the loss back to Thomas Gear. It says the onus is on the retailer to establish the card holder is genuine.