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The FTC has been warning consumers for years about impersonation scams – calls that falsely claim to come from the IRS, the Social Security Administration, or other offices or businesses. The messages try to coerce people into making immediate payments or turning over sensitive personal information. The FTC’s latest Data Spotlight focuses on the rampant rise of Amazon impersonation scams that have already bilked consumers out of millions of...

Scammers impersonate all sorts of businesses, but reports to the FTC’s Consumer Sentinel point to Amazon as a runaway favorite for scammers. From July 2020 through June 2021, about one in three people who reported a business impersonator said the scammer claimed to be Amazon. Reports about Amazon impersonators increased more than fivefold during this period. 1 About 96,000 people reported being targeted, and nearly 6,000 said they lost money...

Given the recent surge in merger filings and the Commission’s obligation to protect Americans from illegal transactions, the Bureau of Competition is instituting new process reforms to best use its limited resources. These reforms build on other enhancements the Bureau announced in an August blog post. The Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Act requires that companies provide the FTC and Department of Justice with advance notice of certain transactions...

The FTC was created to act as a guardian of fair markets, armed with broad authority to ensure our economy is one in which consumers, workers, and honest businesses can thrive. Chair Khan is committed to realizing that vision of an agency that takes on problems holistically, rather than from a consumer protection or competition lens alone. This means ensuring that the Commission’s two enforcement bureaus – the Bureau of Competition and the Bureau...

The FTC is committed to policing gasoline and diesel markets to protect the American public against illegal acts. Given high prices at the pump these days, the Bureau of Competition is redoubling its commitment to police unfair methods of competition in wholesale and retail gasoline and diesel sales. Chair Khan recently sent a letter outlining the ways in which the FTC is stepping up its investigative efforts in gasoline markets. First, the...

If your company is facing the fall-out from Hurricane Ida, flooding in Tennessee, western wildfires, or any other natural disaster, your employees are looking for help in the recovery process – and you’re looking to make a safe return to business. But as flood waters recede, dangerous predators can spring to the surface: scammers targeting people and small businesses trying to get back on their feet. Here are ways to avoid common post-disaster...

As the FTC continues to experience a massive surge in planned merger deals, we are looking at every step of the merger filing process to identify ways to streamline and maximize our efficiency. Under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act (“HSR” or the Act), companies are required to file notice of mergers over a certain size before they can close the deal. This is not an application process – it is for law enforcement purposes. The HSR Act does not require...

Today, Acting Director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection Samuel Levine sent the following letter to Mark Zuckerberg concerning Facebook’s misleading claims regarding the company’s consent decree with the FTC: Dear Mr. Zuckerberg: I write concerning Facebook’s recent insinuation that its actions against an academic research project conducted by NYU’s Ad Observatory were required by the company’s consent decree with the Federal Trade Commission...

Have you or one of your employees received an alarming text message about unemployment insurance benefits from what seems to be your state workforce agency? You’re not alone. Identity thieves are targeting millions of people nationwide with scam phishing texts aimed at stealing personal information, unemployment benefits, or both. The phishing texts try to dupe the recipient to click a link to “make necessary corrections” to their unemployment...

Given the recent surge in merger filings, the FTC is reviewing its processes to determine how best to use its limited resources. The FTC reviews mergers per the Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Act, which requires that companies provide the FTC and Department of Justice with advance notice of certain transactions above a certain threshold. ( The current minimum size-of-transaction threshold is $92 million .) After the merging parties submit a filing with...