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Let’s say someone walks into an old-fashioned record store looking for the Bright Eyes song “False Advertising.” Upon finding and buying the album, she’d have little reason to fear that store employees might sneak into her house later and take it back from her. She’d also have no cause to think that the album was counterfeit and not by the band at all. Now let’s say instead that the same song inspires an artist to create a mural depicting the FTC’s greatest false ad cases, and the mural gets displayed in a local gallery. The artist might be surprised if the gallery later shuts its doors and refuses to return the mural . . . or if some other company secretly reuses bits of it to make something else.

Just because consumers sign up for a membership or subscription doesn’t mean they sign up to get unwanted marketing email. A proposed $650,000 settlement with Experian Consumer Services just filed on the FTC’s behalf by the Department of Justice reminds businesses that they can’t “unsubscribe” from their legal obligations under the CAN-SPAM Act.

You’ve heard about scammers impersonating government agencies, global retailers, and even members of your family. The latest variation on the scheme targets business professionals, luring them in with what appear to be attractive “job offers” from well-known companies. You’ll be amazed at how far these bottom-feeding fraudsters will go to make those bogus “dream jobs” seem legit.

As a landlord – or property manager or other housing provider – you may run background checks on prospective tenants. These reports can include rental and eviction history, credit history, criminal records, and more. Background checks from consumer reporting agencies are consumer reports and under the law you have certain responsibilities when it comes to using them. For instance, you can get a consumer report only if you have a permissible purpose – and you may not use the consumer report for another reason.

In the past few months, the FTC has announced case after case involving consumers’ sensitive health data, alleging violations of both Section 5 of the FTC Act and the FTC’s Health Breach Notification Rule. The privacy of health information is top of mind for consumers – and so it’s top of mind for the FTC. Companies collecting or using health data, listen up. There are a number of key messages from BetterHelp, GoodRx, Premom, Vitagene, and other FTC matters that you need to hear.

We usually don’t recommend reading other people’s mail, but even if you weren’t one of the approximately 130 companies that received a recent joint letter from the FTC and HHS’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR), anyone in the health arena – hospitals, other HIPAA-covered entities, telehealth providers, health app developers, etc. – should take the letter to heart and consider a privacy and security check-up at their business.

For the millions of Americans struggling to reduce their alcohol intake or stop drinking altogether, a product called Sobrenix sounded like the answer. But according to the FTC, defendants Rejuvica LLC and corporate officers Kyle Armstrong and Kyle Dilger made numerous unsubstantiated representations and falsely claimed to have clinical proof that didn’t really exist, in violation of both the Opioid Addiction Recovery Fraud Prevention Act and the FTC Act. What’s more, the complaint alleges they made deceptive use of endorsements – both by having paid endorsers make TV appearances designed to look like independent news stories, but that were actually paid advertising and by creating a phony “review” website. The proposed settlement includes a financial remedy that will return money to consumers.

It’s not often that something can be stated with absolute certainty, but here goes: People hate illegal robocalls. No one knows that more than the FTC, which is why we’ve brought 167 cases to date and we won’t stop until companies that violate the FTC Act and the Telemarking Sales Rule hang up once and for all. In the latest battle against these illegal and injurious intrusions, the FTC and over 100 federal and state partners have announced Operation Stop Scam Calls, a nationwide crackdown involving over 180 actions against operations responsible for billions of illegal calls.

When it comes to law enforcement action against unlawful conduct in the cryptocurrency marketplace, the temperature is rising, according to a proposed FTC settlement with crypto platform Celsius Network and a pending complaint against its former corporate officers. The make-no-mistake message for others in the industry: Don’t believe that “wild west” talk. Your sector may be novel, but established FTC consumer protection standards apply to you with full force.

Ask people about the records they consider the most private and they may say personal health data. (If they misunderstand the question, they may mention disco singles they bought in junior high – but perhaps that’s just us.) Of course, say “health privacy” and many people think of HIPAA – the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. Did you know that some entities that hold or interact with consumers’ personal health records aren’t...