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“UNLIMITED Minutes.” “UNLIMITED TALK.” “‘UNLIMITED MINUTES’ We do not charge ‘per-minute’.” Those are notable claims for anyone shopping for telecom services, including consumers who want to maintain family ties with relatives who are incarcerated. But according to an FTC lawsuit, two companies and two individuals bilked unsuspecting parents, spouses, children, and other loved ones out of more than $1 million by selling them misleading “unlimited...

I am pleased to announce several leadership changes in the Bureau's Mergers I and Mergers IV Divisions. Mark Seidman has been named as the Acting Assistant Director for the Mergers IV Division. Mark has served as Deputy Assistant Director for Mergers IV for the past six years. Prior to becoming Deputy Assistant Director, Mark served as Counsel to the Director under former Bureau Directors Debbie Feinstein and Rich Feinstein. Mark joined the...

With the conclusion of FY2020, we look back on a year unlike any other in the history of the Bureau of Competition. The year has been marked by a combination of exceptional commitment from the Bureau’s staff, enforcement achievements that would be remarkable in any year but which are nothing short of incredible in this one, and a string of enforcement and policy successes. The first measure of our success in any year is our work to protect...

If you saw an email from FTC Chairman Joseph Simons, it wasn’t. From him, that is. Scammers pretending to be him are emailing, though. They’re trying to trick you into turning over personal information, like your birth date and home address, which could help them scam you. So: if you get an email from the Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission about getting money because of an inheritance or relief funds related to the impact of the COVID-19...

Do not pass GO. Do not collect $200. And possibly face criminal charges. That’s the message of Operation Corrupt Collector, a coast-to-coast crackdown by the FTC, three other federal agencies, and partners from 16 states. Operation Corrupt Collector encompasses more than 50 actions challenging some of the worst-of-the-worst debt collection tactics, including phantom debt collection – the practice of coercing consumers to pay debts they don’t owe...

What’s in a name? According to an FTC lawsuit filed in April, if you’re an outfit that uses the name “SBA Loan Program” – and you falsely claim to be an approved lender for the Small Business Administration’s coronavirus relief lending program – what’s in your name is deception. Under the terms of a settlement, that shady tactic stops right here, right now. For many small businesses struggling to stay afloat during the pandemic, SBA’s Paycheck...

It’s National Small Business Week, a time set aside annually to salute American’s 30 million small businesses – companies that employ almost half of the country’s private sector workforce. The special focus this year is on the resilience and resolve of entrepreneurs and workers as they battle back against the impact of the pandemic. In addition to virtual events sponsored by the Small Business Administration, National Small Business Week is a...

Under the Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Act and Rules, parties cannot use a transaction structure for the purpose of avoiding or delaying their premerger filing obligation. If they do, the Commission must ignore the structure and review the substance of the transaction as a whole to determine whether an HSR filing is required. Premerger Notification Office (PNO) staff have recently rethought some prior advice, and today PNO is withdrawing a 2003...

Oh, what a tangled web they weave, When with telemarketing scams they do deceive. Sir Walter Scott – no, it wasn’t Shakespeare – didn’t have deceptive telemarketing or illegal robocalls in mind when he penned the original version of that couplet. But peel back the façade of an illegal telemarketing operation and you’re likely to find a convoluted network of companies and individuals lending a harmful hand to the detriment of consumers. The FTC’s...

Data To Go: An FTC Workshop on Data Portability begins at 8:30 Eastern Time this morning, Tuesday, September 22, 2020. Hosted by the FTC’s Bureau of Competition and Bureau of Consumer Protection, the virtual event will examine the potential benefits and challenges to consumers and competition of data portability – when people can move data (for example, emails, contacts, calendars, financial or health information, favorites, friends, or social...