The Federal Trade Commission is sending payments totaling nearly $2.4 million to consumers who paid subscription fees to the online stock trading site RagingBull.com, a company the FTC says used bogus earnings claims to trick consumers.
The FTC has begun sending 9,862 Paypal payments to consumers who were affected. Recipients should accept their payment within 30 days. Recipients who have questions about their payment should call the refund administrator, JND Legal Administration, at 877-415-0647, or visit the FTC website to view frequently asked questions about the refund process. The Commission never requires people to pay money or provide account information to get a refund.
The FTC sued Raging Bull and its owners in December 2020 as part of Operation Income Illusion, a nationwide law enforcement effort targeting deceptive income claims. The FTC charged that the company used bogus earnings claims to trick people into paying for investment strategies and recommendations, and then trapped them into hard-to-cancel subscription plans with costly fees. The FTC’s complaint noted that consumers who purchased the site’s services lost millions of dollars in their investments.
In March 2022, Raging Bull and its owners agreed to a settlement with the FTC that required them to pay $2.425 million, end their earnings deception, get affirmative approval from consumers for subscription sign ups, and provide them with a simple method to cancel recurring charges.
The Commission’s interactive dashboards for refund data provide a state-by-state breakdown of refunds in FTC cases. In 2022, Commission actions led to more than $392 million in refunds to consumers across the country.