Earlier today, the Federal Trade Commission released the results of its two-year look into what needs to be done about protecting the privacy of American consumers. It all seems to make good sense, but will anyone actually follow the FTC’s recommendations? [More]
ftc
FTC Cracks Down On Bogus Mortgage Relief Lawsuits
By 3.22.12
If you live in an area hit hard by the collapse of the housing market, you might have received a letter from a company promising that if you join other struggling homeowners in filing lawsuits against your lender, you can get mortgage relief, a cash reward and maybe even the title to your home. What it doesn’t mention is that you could end up being scammed out of thousands of dollars. [More]
FTC Goes After Car Dealers For Lying To Customers About Trade-Ins
By 3.14.12
Have you ever seen a car dealership ad that promises to pay off the loan balance of your trade-in, even if you owe more than the value of the trade-in? Well, the Federal Trade Commission has stopped a handful of dealers from continuing to deceive buyers with this too-good-to-be-true offer. [More]
ID Theft, Debt Collection Top FTC's List Of Consumer Complaints
By 2.28.12
Consumers filed more than 1.8 million complaints with the Federal Trade Commission last year. And for the 12th year in a row, identity theft accounted for the biggest slice of the complaint pie. [More]
FTC Pulls Plug On Sites That Made $359 Million On Bogus "Free" Offers
By 2.24.12
If you’re a Consumerist reader, you’re probably the type of online shopper that would be wary of a website promising a “free trial” period. But every year, millions of Americans think they’re getting something for nothing — only to end up much poorer because they didn’t read the fine print. [More]
Court Halts Intimidating Debt Collector Calls From People Posing As Cops
By 2.21.12
The Federal Trade Commission announced today that a U.S. district court has stopped an operation that allegedly collected millions of dollars in payday loan debts that consumers did not actually owe. [More]
FTC Fines Debt Collector $2.5 Million For Deceiving Consumers
By 1.30.12
After years of writing about shady practices by debt collectors, it’s nice to finally write that there’s a small bit of justice in this world. Today, the Federal Trade Commission announced a $2.5 million civil penalty against Asset Acceptance, one of the country’s largest debt collectors, for making misrepresentations and deceiving consumers in the name of collecting debts. [More]
FTC Finally Permanently Shuts Down Fake News Sites Shilling For Acai Berries
By 1.26.12
It was nine months ago that the Federal Trade Commission announced its crackdown on companies that created sites aimed to look like news reports that were really just advertisements for supplements and other weight loss products made from acai berries. Now, as part of a settlement agreement, six online marketers will permanently stop the deceptive practice. [More]
Skechers Prepping For Possible FTC Settlement Over Shape-Up Ads
By 11.15.11
In September, when we figured out that the Federal Trade Commission was about to announce a mammoth settlement with a major shoe company over deceptive “toning shoe” ads, we guessed it was either Reebok or Skechers. Well, we were right about Reebok and it looks like Skechers is preparing for the possibility that it could end up paying out millions to the FTC. [More]
Four Loko Changing Cans To Show How Many Beers You Would Actually Need To Drink To Get The Same Buzz
By 10.3.11
For some reason, the makers of Four Loko have been downplaying the amount of alcohol in their big, candy-colored cans. And so today, as part of a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission, the makers of Four Loko agreed to new labeling that will more accurately let buyers know just how drunk they can get on a single can. [More]
Reebok Spent At Least $64 Million On Deceptive EasyTone Ads
By 9.28.11
Earlier today, we wrote about the $25 million settlement between the Federal Trade Commission and Reebok over the shoemaker’s misleading ads for its EasyTone line of shoes. And while that $25 million in refunds is a nice slab of cash, it’s chump change compared to what Reebok has spent marketing the shoes — and what it’s earned off their sales. [More]
Reebok To Fork Over $25 Million In Refunds For Deceptive EasyTone Ads
By 9.28.11
As we reported yesterday, the Federal Trade Commission was going to announce a huge settlement, involving millions in refunds to consumers, with some big name shoe company over deceptive advertising claims. And today it was revealed that it’s sneaker biggie Reebok that has agreed to fork over $25 million in refunds to buyers of its EasyTone shoes. [More]
Did FTC Spoil Its Own Surprise Announcement?
By 9.27.11
Earlier today, the Federal Trade Commission posted a media alert for a Wednesday morning press conference to announce an action against a “major marketer of consumer goods” that will result in millions of dollars in refunds being given to consumers. But while the Commission wanted to keep secret the name of this mystery major marketer, they may have given it away in the URL of the media alert. [More]
FTC Proposes Changes To Law Protecting Kids' Privacy Online
By 9.16.11
The Federal Trade Commission announced yesterday that it is seeking public comment on proposed changes to the Children’s Online Privacy Act, which would strengthen the law’s ability to protect children under the age of 13. [More]
FTC Gets Some PayDay Lenders To Halt Garnishing Wages Without Court Order
By 9.14.11
A group of nine South Dakota-based payday lenders — doing business under at least 17 different names, but all sharing a common senior executive — has agreed to stop garnishing wages from customers with delinquent accounts, at least until there is some sort of conclusion to the Federal Trade Commission lawsuit against them. [More]
FTC Sends Out $108 Million In Refund Checks To Overcharged Countrywide Customers
By 7.20.11
Earlier today, the Federal Trade Commission announced it is mailing out refund checks to the nearly half million American homeowners who were charged excessive fees on their mortgages by former Worst Company In America champ Countrywide Home Loans. [More]
1950's Kool-Aid Commercial Drinks Itself
By 7.11.11
Here’s a retro Kool-Aid commercial from a simpler time. Back when the Kool-Aid man was just a jug with a condensation face that talked. No busting through walls. he just chilled there like a good friendly value sitting on a table. Children and adults just whistled at one another to signify that it was Kool-Aid time. And mothers spoke very precisely and articulately. Ahhh. [More]
FTC Crackdown Does Little To Curb Ads For Fake News Sites
By 6.29.11
Even though the Federal Trade Commission recently appeared to be coming down hard on “news” sites shilling for things like acai juice, it looks like those sites are not only still around, but links to them are popping up on major, legitimate news sites. [More]
