Here’s a weird possible scam going around. Our reader Chris writes, “Every day for the past week, I’ve been getting an automated call that asks me, ‘This is Survey 2010. Do you have a small dog?'” [More]
ftc
Don't Confuse Medical Discount Plans With Health Insurance
By 8.17.10
If you don’t have health insurance, you might hear about a medical discount plan and think that it’s an affordable alternative, but be careful. Some of the plans being sold don’t lower your health care costs at all, and in some cases can even increase them. That’s why the the FTC and 24 states have recently filed a total of 54 lawsuits against companies selling medical discount plans to people who don’t have health insurance. [More]
FTC Shuts Down Domain Name Scammers
By 8.10.10
The FTC says a Toronto-based company called Internet Listing Service scammed thousands of U.S. consumers and small businesses by mailing invoices to them demanding payment for unnecessary domain registration services. The company was given a suspended judgment of over $4 million, based on “the total amount of consumer injury” caused, but in reality the people behind the scam have been ordered to pay $10,000 because that’s all the money they have left. [More]
A List Of 18 "Free Credit Report" Websites Warned By The FTC
By 7.26.10
The FTC recently amended the Free Credit Reports Rule to require “certain disclosures to help consumers distinguish between ads for free credit reports that often require them to buy credit monitoring or other services.” [More]
Nestlé Agrees To Stop Promising Boost Kiddie Drink Is Anti-Diarrheal, Pro-Studying
By 7.19.10
Nestlé is the latest company to slap some nutrients (or in this case probiotics) in a product, call it “functional food,” and market it to shoppers as a healthy and smart product. Last week, the FTC got the company to agree to stop claiming that its chocolate Boost Kid Essentials–which comes with a straw lined with probiotic bacteria (mmm delicious!)–will do things like protect them from diarrhea and improve school attendance rates. The FTC says the claims aren’t substantiated with adequate scientific research. [More]
Work-At-Home Scams On The Rise; Here's How To Spot Them
By 6.29.10
With so many people out of work, questionable-sounding work-at-home jobs that would have once been looked at with a wary eye are now the last resort for many cash-strapped Americans. But as more people are finding out, many work-at-home jobs are not the income generators they promise, and some are downright scams. [More]
Watch Out For Tiny Fraudulent Charges On Your Accounts
By 6.28.10
The new hot fraud these days involves something that kinda sounds like it belongs in Superman III, but is new and different. Scamsters make tiny charges to tons and tons of accounts, hoping that the account holders won’t notice a charge for less than $10. And often they don’t. [More]
FTC Makes Twitter Promise Not To Mislead Customers About Privacy
By 6.24.10
Twitter has settled a Federal Trade Commission investigation, which started after a hacker gained access to a number of Twitter accounts (including President Barack Obama’s) and sent out fake tweets from those addresses. Under the terms of the settlement, Twitter “will be barred for 20 years from misleading consumers about the extent to which it maintains and protects the security, privacy and confidentiality of nonpublic consumer information.” We don’t know what happens in year 21. [More]
New FTC Lightbulb Labels Still Won't Explain What A Lumen Is
By 6.22.10
If all of the new lightbulbs — CFLs, LEDs and more — have left you wondering whether switching technologies is a bright idea, the government is here to help. Sort of. Starting next year, the Federal Trade Commission plans to mandate new labels for all lightbulbs, modeled after the nutrition labels on most packaged foods. There’s just one problem: If you don’t know what a lumen is, or how it relates to a watt, the labels may not shed much light on the subject. [More]
Coming Soon, A Way To Find Out How That Online Ad Knows What You Like
By 6.22.10
Last year the FTC asked online marketers to regulate targeted advertising, so in an attempt to avoid new regulatory policies the major ad industry groups have gotten together to launch a new service. Starting late summer, when a targeted ad from a participating marketer appears on your screen, you’ll be able to click a small icon somewhere on the ad and see your profile on that marketer’s site. You’ll also be able to then opt out of future ads from that ad network, reports Wired. [More]
Ben Popken On WJLA Warning About Robocall Scammers
By 6.10.10
UPDATE: Here’s the video. If you live in the DC area, tune into ABC 7 tonight at 5:45 pm to see a Consumer Alert I shot with local reporter Kris Van Cleave. Apparently, this morning like six of their reporters all got scam robocalls on their cellphones with a recording saying their ATM card had been deactivated and they needed to call the bank back. Hello, scam! [More]
"Got ID?" Is A Question Many More Businesses Will Be Asking Soon
By 6.8.10
Your driver’s license could start getting worn down a lot starting in December . That’s because a whole bunch of businesses will soon be required to ask you for your ID, everyone from your dentist to your car dealer. [More]
FTC: Countrywide Mowed Your Lawn, Marked Up The Cost And Called It A Fee
By 6.7.10
The FTC says that Countrywide (now part of Bank of America) has agreed to pay $108 million to settle charges that the company “collected excessive fees from cash-strapped borrowers were were struggling to keep their homes.” So, what exactly did they do? Well apparently, while acting as a mortgage servicer, the company actually hired vendors to service properties after the homeowners had fallen behind on their mortgages, marked up the cost of the services (lawn mowing and property inspections, for example,) and then passed the cost along as fees. Doesn’t sound legal? It wasn’t. [More]
Kellogg's Ordered To Stop Saying Its Cereals Make You Healthier
By 6.3.10
For the second time in a year, Kellogg Company has been called to the principal’s office at the Federal Trade Commission and slapped on the wrist for misleading customers into thinking its cereal products offer unproven health benefits. [More]
What iPhone Owners Complain About When They Complain To The FCC & FTC
By 5.31.10 — Updated: 10.24.12
Lastmonth, InformationWeek filed a Freedom of Information request with the FCC and the FTC for complaints made about the iPhone in the past year. Although the breakdown of complaints is interesting, what I found most striking was that in a nation of over 11 million iPhone owners, less than 600 complaints were filed in the past 14 months*, and some of those were for other Apple products. If you have a legitimate grievance with a company, you might have a much better chance of being heard by the FCC or FTC than you think. [More]
FTC Shuts Down Bogus Credit Card Robocallers
By 5.22.10
Three companies that made claims that they could help consumers reduce their credit card interest rates — and then charged fees of up to $1,590 — have been shut down by the Federal Trade Commission. “The last thing debt-ridden consumers need is to be deluged by illegal robocalls – especially when all the calls are offering is a scam,” said FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz. [More]
After Posting SS# In Ads, Lifelock CEO's Identity Stolen 13 Times
By 5.19.10
So confident is Lifelock in its $10-$15/month “identity theft protection service” that its CEO Todd Davis posts his social security number in its ads. Unfortunately, his identity has been stolen 13 times since doing so, reports the Phoenix Times. The FTC fined Lifelock $12 million in March for deceptive advertising.
Cracking LifeLock: Even After a $12 Million Penalty for Deceptive Advertising, the Tempe Company Can’t Be Honest About Its Identity-Theft-Protection Service [Phoenix New Times]
FTC: Consumer Privacy System Is Broken
By 5.4.10
Citing lengthy privacy policies, confusing information about how personal data is used, and a lack of transparency in behavioral marketing campaigns, Maneesha Mithal of the Federal Trade Commission declared the current Internet consumer privacy system “broken,” and said the agency is working on a series of recommendations to help fix it. [More]
