This story is like the scene in a straight-to-DVD thriller where the protagonist needs to decide which of two seemingly identical characters, both of whom claim to be her real partner, to shoot dead. Except it’s not really anything like that because it involves robocalling, no one gets shot and it probably doesn’t star Judd Nelson. [More]
ftc
Credit-Repair Scammers Hit With $7.4 Million Penalty, Continued To Break Law
By 11.30.12
I don’t know about you, but if I’m running a scammy business and get hit with a $7.4 million penalty from the federal government, I’m at least going to think twice about running the same scam again. And yet, a Florida couple completely disregarded court orders by continuing to sell people on their illegal credit-repair system. [More]
FTC Warns Hotels That Hiding Resort Fees May Violate The Law
By 11.28.12
Have you ever booked a hotel room and then arrived to find that in addition to the room rate, you must also pay a “resort fee,” even if you have no intention of using the amenities the fee is intended to cover? The Federal Trade Commission thinks some hotel operators may be illegally hiding these fees in order to mislead consumers about their room rates. [More]
Regulators Ask Mortgage Marketers To Please Cut Down On The Lying In Their Ads
By 11.19.12
The 2011 Mortgage Acts and Practices Advertising Rule prohibit mortgage lenders and brokers from making misleading claims about government affiliation, interest rates, fees, costs, associated payments, and the amount of cash or credit available to the consumer. Shockingly, some folks just didn’t listen. [More]
What To Do If You’re Still Getting Calls From “Rachel At Cardholder Services”
By 11.7.12
Last week, the Federal Trade Commission shut down five operations responsible for untold number of scammy robocalls from “Rachel (or one of many other names) at Cardholder Services.” But several readers have written in to say that these calls have not ended. [More]
FTC Hangs Up On “Rachel From Cardholder Services”
By 11.1.12
For several years, American consumers have been receiving unwanted robocalls with a recorded message from “Rachel” or one of her fictional co-workers at the vaguely named “Cardholder Services.” Not only are these calls often in violation of do-not-call regulations, they are also a scam to trick people our of their cash. Today, the Federal Trade Commission announced it had pulled the plug on five companies behind these scammy robocalls. [More]
How To Figure Out If A Charity Might Be A Scam
By 10.31.12
It’s not just home-repair scams that pop up in the wake of natural disasters like Hurricane Sandy. There will also be grade-A-holes out there trying to trick consumers out of money by pretending to be raising money to help those hurt by the storm. [More]
Sherwin-Williams, PPG Agree To Stop Lying To Consumers About ‘Zero VOC’ Paints
By 10.25.12
Many interior paints contain Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) in the form of solvents, some of which can be harmful to your health. So when a container of Dutch Boy Refresh paint proudly declares “Zero VOC,” one might reasonably think “Yay, no volatile organic compounds for me.” Well… maybe so, maybe not. [More]
Think You Know How To End Robocalls? You Could Win $50,000
By 10.22.12
Even though the national Do Not Call registry has stopped most legitimate businesses from flooding consumers’ phone lines with unwanted robocalls, scam artists continue calling because they don’t really care about obeying the law in the first place. Thus, the Federal Trade Commission is offering a $50,000 prize for the person who can help put an end to robocalls. [More]
Equifax Caught Improperly Selling Lists Of People With Late Mortgage Payments
By 10.10.12
When you’re in financial trouble, one of your concerns is that your creditors will report you to the three major credit bureaus — Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. But maybe you should be concerned that the bureaus are selling your sensitive information. [More]
Web Site Operator Fined $1M For Using Kids’ Love Of Justin Bieber To Illegally Collect Their Info
By 10.4.12
The teeming, screaming masses of fans in love with Justin Bieber, Rihanna or Demi Lovato are young and Internet savvy, and a tempting demographic for businesses. The thing is, you can try to market to those kids but you can’t collect their personal information without parental permission, which is why the operator of fan Web sites for those three musicians has to pay $1 million for running afoul of Federal Trade Commission rules. [More]
Rent-To-Own Companies Busted Using Tracking Software To Spy On Customers
By 9.26.12
For years, we’ve been warning consumers about rent-to-own electronics businesses because they usually end up costing customers a heck of a lot more money in the long term. Now there is another reason to avoid them: The Federal Trade Commission has caught seven rent-to-own companies installing tracking software on computers to do everything from tracking their locations to capturing screenshots of confidential info to secretly snapping photos of customers. [More]
Feds Shut Down Debt Relief Companies That Only Relieved Customers Of Their Cash
By 9.18.12
We occasionally have the TV turned on in the background here at the Consumerist Batcave, so we know that anyone in the market for a sketchy debt-relief firm has many, many options to avoid calling. But now there are a few fewer questionable companies littering the daytime airwaves because the Federal Trade Commission has halted the operations of four services that allegedly made false claims about being lawyers, debited money from people who did not actually order the services — oh, and failed to get any significant debt relief for the customers that actually signed up. [More]
FTC Goes After Marketers Hawking Natural Remedies For Bed Bug & Head Lice Problems
By 9.10.12
If you’ve ever had bed bugs or known anyone who’s endured an infestation, you know what a nightmarishly awful, stressful and expensive problem it can be. That’s why the Federal Trade Commission doesn’t want two companies to prey on consumer distress by offering up natural remedies for bedbugs and head lice if they’re not really that effective at getting rid of the critters. [More]
Misleading Mailer Shows Why DISH Needs To Rein In Third-Party Sales Agents
By 8.28.12
DISH Network is already in hot water with regulators because it and the third-party businesses that sell the satellite TV service allegedly ignore the Do Not Call list. But DISH’s authorized agents aren’t just bad at telemarketing; some also appear intent on filling customers’ mailboxes with misleading mailers that only serve to annoy potential customers. [More]
'Your Baby Can Read' Charged With False Advertising Because It Didn't Prove Your Baby Can Actually Read
By 8.28.12
Since 2008, the makers of the Your Baby Can Read! learning system have made $185 million from parents who hoped that the product could indeed help their infant get a head start on becoming a voracious reader. Now the company has to forfeit all that money (well, sort of) after the FTC filed false advertising charges against it, its former CEO and its creator. [More]
Man Behind Fake-Cop Debt Collection Scam Could Get To Know Some Very Real Convicts
By 8.27.12
We write a lot about multimillion dollar settlements over alleged frauds and scams, but it often seems like there is an inverse relationship between the amount of money involved and the amount of time spent in jail by the perpetrators. So we’re glad to hear that the man in the center of a debt collection scam that involved callers pretending to be police officers, and which defrauded American consumers out of millions, now faces criminal charges. [More]
FTC Sues Dish Network Over 'Do Not Call' Violations
By 8.23.12
Even if a consumer isn’t on the National Do Not Call Registry, when they ask a telemarketer to stop calling them, said telemarketer is legally obliged to honor that request. According to a new lawsuit filed by the Federal Trade Commission, the folks at Dish Network (allegedly) ignored this request from millions of annoyed Americans. [More]
