Tag Archives: Consumer Protection

At the request of the Federal Trade Commission, a U.S. district court has issued a temporary halt to a massive “scareware” scheme, which falsely claimed that scans had detected viruses, spyware, and illegal pornography on consumers’ computers. According to the FTC, the scheme has tricked more than one million consumers into buying computer security products […]

The Federal Trade Commission has successfully settled the second of 13 complaints brought as part of the multi-agency “Operation Tele-PHONEY” law enforcement sweep in May 2008 against deceptive telemarketers and the companies they operated throughout the United States. In the settlement announced today, defendant Robert James Fischbach, who allegedly deceptively marketed advance-fee credit cards to […]

The Federal Trade Commission, in conjunction with two international organizations, will host a two-day international conference: “Securing Personal Data in the Global Economy.” The conference addresses how companies can manage personal data-security issues in a global information environment where data can be stored and accessed from multiple jurisdictions. Working with the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) […]

An operation that lured consumers with promises that they could earn big money as trained and certified “mystery shoppers ” has agreed to pay $850,000 to settle charges of deceptive marketing and contempt. Mystery shoppers are paid to shop or dine out and then provide reports about the experience. In March 2007, the Federal Trade […]

An operation that lured consumers with promises that they could earn big money as trained and certified “mystery shoppers ” has agreed to pay $850,000 to settle charges of deceptive marketing and contempt. Mystery shoppers are paid to shop or dine out and then provide reports about the experience. In March 2007, the Federal Trade […]

The Federal Trade Commission has settled charges it brought against a group of Canadian telemarketers who allegedly deceived U.S. consumers through the fraudulent sale of telephone calling cards. As a result of the settlement, the court has permanently barred the defendants from engaging in similar cross-border fraud. In July 2007, the agency charged 9131-4740 Québec, […]

A Utah-based operation that lured online customers with free samples of a purported weight-loss supplement in a scheme to obtain their credit or debit card information has agreed to pay $150,000 to settle Federal Trade Commission charges of deceptive and unfair marketing, and of violations of federal regulations governing the electronic transfer of funds. According […]

A Utah-based operation that lured online customers with free samples of a purported weight-loss supplement in a scheme to obtain their credit or debit card information has agreed to pay $150,000 to settle Federal Trade Commission charges of deceptive and unfair marketing, and of violations of federal regulations governing the electronic transfer of funds. According […]

Effective today, any telemarketing call that delivers a prerecorded message must include a quick and easy way to opt-out of receiving future calls. The opt-out must work both for consumers who answer these calls in person and for those whose answering machines or voicemail services receive the calls. Prerecorded telemarketing messages are permitted only in […]

The Federal Trade Commission has rescinded guidance issued in 1966 that generally permitted statements concerning tar and nicotine yields if they were based on the Cambridge Filter Method, sometimes called the FTC method. As a result, advertisers should no longer use terms suggesting the FTC’s endorsement or approval of any specific test method. The Cambridge […]