The Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) recently filed two actions against Shore to Please Vacations LLC and Staffordshire Property Management, LLC alleging that the companies used illegal non-disparagement clauses in consumer form contracts in the course of selling their respective services, in violation of the Consumer Review Fairness Act (“CRFA”). The CRFA, which became effective in
Allied Wallet, described as a provider of e-commerce merchant services and online payment processing services, settled claims by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) that it assisted numerous scams by knowingly processing fraudulent transactions to consumers’ accounts. According to the complaint, Allied Wallet assisted companies that were the subject to law enforcement action by the FTC
Recently, the Federal Trade Commission has approved final consent orders against Patriot Puck and Sandpiper/PiperGear in which the agency alleged that companies falsely claimed their products were made in the United States. In both cases, much of the products finished goods were imported or had imported components. Marketers and manufacturers that promote their products as
When a party is contacted by a federal, state, or local regulatory or law enforcement or government entity, including the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Federal Trade Commission, Medicare/Medicaid agencies such as the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the Office of Inspector General of the United States Department of Health
In early October 2014, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Defendants Applied Marketing Sciences, LLC, Standard Registration Corporation, Worldwide Information Systems, Incorporated, and Liam O. Moran stipulated to an Order for Permanent Injunction and Monetary Judgment for violations of Section 5 of the FTC Act, 15 U.S.C. §45. The Complaint charged that the defendants participated in deceptive acts or practices in the advertising, marketing, promoting, offering for sale, or selling of prize promotions.
The FTC sued because the above-named defendants were running a sweepstakes in which consumers would receive personalized mailings advising that they had won a cash prize not more than $2 million, and that they needed to pay a twenty or thirty dollar fee to collect their prize. The consumers who paid the fee, mostly individuals over the age of 65, received nothing in return.
In May, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) sent warning letters to 10 of the 45 data broker companies following a test-shopping operation, warning that their practices could violate the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA).
The test-shopping operation was performed by non-attorney FTC staff members posing as individuals or representatives of companies seeking information about consumers to make decisions related to their creditworthiness, eligibility for insurance or suitability for employment.
