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Every year the FTC brings hundreds of cases against individuals and companies for violating consumer protection and competition laws that the agency enforces. These cases can involve fraud, scams, identity theft, false advertising, privacy violations, anti-competitive behavior and more. The Legal Library has detailed information about cases we have brought in federal court or through our internal administrative process, called an adjudicative proceeding.
The operators of a tech support scam that did business under Troth Solutions and other names settled Federal Trade Commission charges that they tricked consumers into believing their computers were infected with viruses and malware, and then charged them hundreds of dollars for unnecessary repairs.
Soundboard Association sued the Federal Trade Commission alleging that the agency violated the APA by not issuing the regulation following notice-and-comment rulemaking, and that it was infringing on telemarketing companies' First Amendment rights.
In December 2018, the Federal Trade Commission announced that the operators of Florida-based student loan debt relief scheme Student Debt Doctor are banned from the debt relief business as part of agreements settling allegations that they collected illegal upfront fees and falsely promised to help some consumers enroll in government programs that would reduce or forgive their student loan debt. In June 2022, the agency announced that it is sending 22,817 checks totaling more than $2 million to borrowers who lost money to the scheme.
The Federal Trade Commission, along with law enforcement officials and charity regulators from 70 offices in every state, the District of Columbia, American Samoa, Guam and Puerto Rico, announced more than 100 actions and a consumer education initiative in “Operation Donate with Honor,” a crackdown on fraudulent charities that con consumers by falsely promising their donations will help veterans and servicemembers.
Three Utah-based firms and their owner, which a federal court jury in 2016 found deceptively and illegally called more than 117 million consumers pitching their movies, have agreed to a proposed court order settling the FTC’s charges against them. The DOJ (DOJ) secured the defendants’ agreement to the proposed order imposing civil penalties and prohibiting telemarketing abuses, and filed it with the court on the behalf of the FTC.