Consumer Alerts

Tech support scams can happen to anyone: small business owners, your employees, and family members — especially those over 60, according to reports to the FTC. These scams usually happen when someone

So, you’ve developed a technology-driven delivery platform connecting businesses to customers, powered by gig workers doing the driving. Now you need to convince businesses to offer products on your

We’ve heard it loud and clear from tens of thousands of people: hidden and misleading fees, also known as junk fees, hurt consumers and businesses. Today the FTC announced it is sending to the Federal

As companies depend on accumulating more consumer data to develop products such as artificial intelligence, targeted advertising, or surveillance pricing tools, they may create valuable pools of

A job you truly enjoy is a good thing, but if the work feels more like an online game than an actual job, you can bet it’s a scam. Reported losses to job scams increased more than threefold from 2020

‘Tis the season for healthcare-related marketing and advertising. That’s right; it’s open enrollment time for the Health Insurance Marketplace, and it’s also almost the end of the plan year for

In the Bureau of Economics, we value an open exchange of ideas between our staff and experts outside the agency. Such an exchange enables us to learn new ideas and perspectives, hone our professional

The turkey is gone, and the relatives have departed. We’ve now officially entered holiday shopping season, also known as make-or-break busy season for small business owners relying on Q4 profits to

Earlier this year, the Office of Technology (OT) published a list of research questions and made reference to the long history in mathematics of doling out questions that, as mathematician Paul Erdős

Since the start of this year, the FTC has announced four groundbreaking cases addressing issues with how businesses collect and, in some cases misuse, people’s location data. If your business collects

The FTC recently announced a new enforcement action in which it alleged that the data broker Mobilewalla collected and retained sensitive location information from consumers—often without their

Today, the FTC continues its fight against unsupported claims about facial recognition through a proposed settlement with software company IntelliVision. According to the FTC, IntelliVision advertised

Don’t judge a book by its cover – how a technology is named doesn’t tell you how it is used. This is the case with Data Clean Rooms (“DCRs”), which are not rooms, do not clean data, and have

As antitrust practitioners know, parties to certain mergers and acquisitions are required to submit premerger notification forms that disclose information about their proposed deal and business

For some events business owners may face, an immediate response is key to a positive outcome. Think dealing with medical emergencies, fires, and data breaches. And then there are other things where a

Professionals in the pest control and HVAC fields show up to your home when you need them most. Unexpected repairs can be a pain for consumers and their budget, but millions of Americans depend upon

Benjamin Franklin famously declared, “When you’re good to others, you’re best to yourself.” Maybe he was giving general advice about being a nice person. But it’s also possible the United States’

The FTC has long regulated negative options through the Negative Option Rule and strategic enforcement actions. Today, the FTC builds on that work by announcing a set of common-sense revisions to the

Get ready. It’s almost Store Your Records Day for telemarketers everywhere. You’re probably asking, what do telemarketers have to do with folks lining up outside of their local record stores to buy

Marriott International, Inc. has long highlighted core values of putting people first, pursuing excellence, acting with integrity, and serving the world. Today, the FTC and Attorneys General from 49