While the FCC has recently enacted rule changes that make it more difficult for predatory third-party businesses to cram unwanted and unauthorized charges on consumers’ landline phone bills, it is still in the process of considering what to do about bill-cramming for wireless customers. For what it’s worth, the folks at the Federal Trade Commission have chimed in with their suggestion: Wireless providers should be required to give customers the option to block all third-party charges from their bills. [More]
FTC: Wireless Customers Should Be Able To Block All Third-Party Charges To Phone Bill
By July 23, 2012
FTC Warns About Scam Tied To Affordable Care Act
By July 13, 2012
It’s barely been two weeks since the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the most controversial portion of the Affordable Care Act, and scammers have already been busy on the phone trying to steal folks’ money by pretending they work for the government and need your sensitive, personal information. [More]
You Probably Didn’t Give That Robocaller Permission To Call You
By July 11, 2012
Until a few years ago, businesses only needed a tenuous “established business relationship” in order to justify blasting out pre-recorded phone messages to consumers. Even though it’s now required that robocallers get a signed authorization before autodialing your number, many are not following these rules. [More]
FTC Says Calling Card Operation Only Delivers Fraction Of Promised Minutes
By July 9, 2012
Back in May, our cohorts at Consumer Reports found that calling cards — especially those aimed at immigrants and intended for making international calls — were often loaded with fees and didn’t always deliver on the minutes they promised. Now, the folks at the Federal Trade Commission have taken action against the operators of one particular calling card that only provided an average of 40% of the promised minutes — and sometimes only a fraction of that. [More]
Study: Nearly Half Of Consumers Fooled By “Up To” Claims In Advertisements
By June 29, 2012
When you see an ad that promises to save you “up to 30%,” do you assume that means that you will see a savings of 30%? You’re reading Consumerist, so you’re probably thinking “Duh, of course not.” But a new study shows that a large number of consumers are not discerning between conditional “up to” promises and unconditional performance statements. [More]
So You Think You’re The Victim Of Identity Theft… Now What?
By June 26, 2012
With so many purchases being made online these days — and with more people using credit cards to buy things at retail locations — it’s surprising we don’t hear about massive data breaches every day. But alas, ID theft is an all-too-frequent occurrence, so it couldn’t hurt to know in advance the steps to take to minimize the damage. [More]
Advocacy Groups Not Exactly Thrilled About Using ‘Madagascar 3′ Characters To Sell Claritin
By June 21, 2012
In addition to all the snack products and toys licensed by Dreamworks Animation to promote Madagascar 3, there’s one in particular that has some public health and children’s advocates up in arms — the packages of Claritin featuring the adorable cartoon animals from the movie. [More]
FTC Charges Telemarketers With Scamming Elderly People Out Of At Least $10 Million
By June 20, 2012
In a day when the stock market is unpredictable and huge financial institutions sometimes appear to be built out of nothing but smoke and mirrors, it can be tempting to want to invest your nest egg in something more concrete, especially something like “precious metals,” a phrase that, to some, exudes wealth and security. [More]
Health Care Scammers Must Hand Over Keys To Aston Martin, Maserati, Yacht
By June 14, 2012
The phrase “crime doesn’t pay” would probably more accurately be stated as “crime can pay quite well, at least until you get caught.” Just ask the operators of an Arizona-based health care telemarketing scam, who now have to surrender all their expensive toys to the federal government. [More]
Spokeo Hit With $800,000 Settlement On Allegations Of Haphazardly Marketing Personal Info To Employers
By June 12, 2012
It’s one thing for your employer or potential employer to do a Google search on you, or scour through your public Facebook profile. It’s another for a company to market this information to employers and human resources departments for the express purpose of background screening. Doing so haphazardly could result in a violation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act. [More]
Man At Center Of Vast Phantom Debt Collector Scam Says He’s An Innocent Pawn
By June 7, 2012
We’ve written a couple of times during the last several months about the Federal Trade Commission’s efforts to crack down on bogus debt collectors, operating out of call centers in India, who pretend to be police officers in order to scare people into paying money they don’t owe. Now the man identified by the FTC as being at the center of the U.S. side of the operation says he’s merely an innocent pawn. [More]
5 Warning Signs To Look For When Choosing A Debt Relief Firm
By June 6, 2012
With many Americans still weighed down by debt, there seem to be an endless number of firms out there offering to help save people from the quicksand. Alas, not all of these people are completely on the up-and-up. [More]
Facebook Decides It Does Want Access To Your Under-13 Children After All
By June 4, 2012
This time last year, Mark Zuckerberg stirred up some controversy when he said the company was willing to fight for the right to allow children under the age of 13 to use Facebook. He later said his statement had been taken out of context, but now it looks like the social media mega-site is actually working on ways to legally allow pre-teens to join. [More]
Got A Good 'Drip Pricing' Story? The FTC Wants To Hear From You
By May 18, 2012
You may not be familiar with the term “drip pricing,” but you’re probably all too familiar with the concept. It’s when a company advertises only one part of a product’s price and doesn’t reveal other associated charges until later in the the buying process. [More]
Chiropractor Who Gave Skechers Such A Great Quote Is Also Married To A Skechers Staffer
By May 16, 2012
As we mentioned earlier today, among the many pieces of evidence in the FTC’s $40 million settlement with Skechers over deceptive advertising for the shoe maker’s toning sneakers is one claim about a supposed “independent” clinical study undertaken by a chiropractor — who may not have been totally unbiased in his research. [More]
Skechers To Pay $40 Million In Refunds Because Putting On Shoes Is Not A Workout
By May 16, 2012
News flash: you can’t work out by not working out. As we predicted in November, the Federal Trade Commission has settled with shoemaker Skechers over claims that their rounded-bottom Shape-Up shoes helped wearers to tone their lower-body muscles and lose weight. These claims were all over ads and promotional material for the shoes, including an ad that aired during the 2011 Super Bowl. [More]
FTC Goes After Nation's Largest 3rd-Party Billing Company For Profiting Off Bill-Cramming
By May 8, 2012
The federal crackdown on the practice of landline bill-cramming — the slathering on of charges for often unauthorized third-party services onto consumers’ phone bills — continues, with the Federal Trade Commission accusing the country’s largest third-party billing business of attempting to cram $70 million worth of bogus charges down consumers’ throats. [More]
FTC Wins Judgment Against Makers Of 3 Get-Rich-Quick Infomercials
By May 1, 2012
We don’t know why people still fall prey to infomercials promising easy paths to riches. And yet, the Federal Trade Commission says a trio of popular get-rich-quick programs — all backed by the same two people — took consumers for a total of $450 million by misleading them into believing they could quickly earn piles of cash in real estate or Internet marketing. [More]
