Blog

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...

Natives and fans heartily agree that “Cleveland Rocks!” That’s why the Federal Trade Commission and its Ohio partners are ready to roll with the next installment of Green Lights & Red Flags: FTC Rules of the Road for Business, set to make its online debut on October 29, 2020, from Cleveland. The free business workshop focuses on current topics in truth-in-advertising law, social media marketing, data security, business-to-business fraud, and more...

Fundraiser Outreach Calling’s telephone pitches were persuasive. Generous Americans opened their hearts and wallets to fund personal care packs for hospitalized veterans, support services for women with breast cancer, “financial assistance for families of officers killed in the line of duty,” and other charitable programs – or so they thought. According to a lawsuit filed by the FTC and the Attorneys General of New York, Virginia, Minnesota, and...

In a lawsuit filed earlier this year, the FTC alleged that Online Trading Academy made unsubstantiated mega-bucks promises about their purported investment training programs. According to the complaint – and the defendants’ own data – for most OTA customers, the only time they saw big money was as it flew out of their hands and into the defendants’ pockets. Under the terms of a settlement, OTA founder Eyal Shachar and others will pay millions...

“Take out” takes on a whole new meaning when it involves your data. Consumers and industry members are giving more thought to the issue of data portability – the ability of consumers to move data (such as emails, contacts, calendars, financial information, health information, favorites, friends, or content posted on social media) from one service to another or to their own files. That’s the topic of a September 22, 2020, virtual event, Data To Go...

“Take out” takes on a whole new meaning when it involves your data. Consumers and industry members are giving more thought to the issue of data portability – the ability of consumers to move data (such as emails, contacts, calendars, financial information, health information, favorites, friends, or content posted on social media) from one service to another or to their own files. That’s the topic of a September 22, 2020, virtual event, Data To Go...

Etymologists – the word origin people – trace “franchise” back to a mash-up of French terms meaning both “forthright expression” and “membership.” Five hundred years later and those two concepts remain intertwined in the FTC’s Franchise Rule. Join us virtually on November 10, 2020, as we host an online public event, Reviewing the Franchise Rule: An FTC Workshop. In place since 1978, the goal of the Franchise Rule is to provide people thinking...

Last year the FTC and the Utah Division of Consumer Protection sued Nudge, LLC, and related companies and individuals, alleging they used bogus money-making claims to lure people into buying real estate training programs – a scheme the two agencies say ultimately took consumers for more than $400 million. Soon after that, the parties entered into a stipulated preliminary injunction. The latest development in the case is that the FTC is seeking to...

Online subscription services can be a convenience for consumers and a boon for business – especially now that so many people are shopping from home. But under the law, companies have an obligation to explain the details of the deal up front, clearly disclose any automatic renewal terms, get consumers’ express consent before billing, and offer simple ways to cancel. The FTC just announced a $10 million settlement with online learning company...