Tag: FTC

As a result of action by the Federal Trade Commission and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, debt collection company International Credit Recovery, Inc. (ICR), officer Richard Diorio, Jr., and manager Cynthia Powell, have agreed to a permanent ban from the debt collection industry after being charged with engaging in bogus debt collection efforts against businesses and non-profits. 

The FTC and Pennsylvania alleged that ICR was a key part of a telemarketing scheme run by American Future Systems, Inc., (AFS), which also does business as Progressive Business Publications and the Center for Education and Employment Law. ICR allegedly collected on debts AFS claimed organizations such as businesses, schools, fire and police departments, and non-profits owed for book and newsletter subscriptions they did not order.

 “The defendants in the case were the second half of a one-two punch that targeted small businesses, non-profits and first responders, first with bogus subscription bills and then bogus debt collection,” said Samuel Levine, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “We’re proud to work with our partners in Pennsylvania to hold them accountable.”

“Through collaboration with our federal partners, we reached an agreement that ensures Pennsylvanians will be protected from these callous defendants that preyed on emergency-responder and non-for-profit organizations to fulfill their selfish greed,” Pennsylvania Attorney General Michelle Henry said.

The FTC and Pennsylvania charged that, in connection with its debt collection activities, ICR contacted consumers that it knew or had reason to know did not agree to order paid subscriptions. They also charged that ICR used false or unsubstantiated representations to try to get consumers to pay, and that ICR illegally threatened consumers if they did not pay.

The court order, which was agreed to by the defendants to settle the case, permanently bans them from the debt collection industry, as well as requires them to cooperate since the case will continue against the other defendants AFS, Progressive Business Publications of New Jersey, Inc. and Edward Satell.

The Commission vote approving the stipulated final order was 3-0-1, with Commissioner Christine S. Wilson not participating. The vote on this matter closed on March 23, 2023, prior to Commissioner Wilson’s departure from the Commission. The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania approved the settlement.

NOTE: Stipulated final orders or injunctions have the force of law when approved and signed by the District Court judge.

This matter is being handled by the FTC’s East Central Region.

Anthony Joseph Damiano and his funeral service companies—Funeral & Cremation Group of North America, LLC, and Legacy Cremation Services, LLC (doing business as Heritage Cremation Provider, Evergreen Funeral Home and Crematory, and Carolina Central Crematory)—will pay civil penalties and abide by strict requirements on how they communicate with customers to resolve a lawsuit filed on behalf of the Federal Trade Commission by the U.S. Department of Justice.

The DOJ and FTC filed their complaint against Damiano and his companies in April 2022, alleging that they misrepresented their location, leading consumers to believe they were a local provider, advertised deceptively low prices, illegally threatened and failed to return cremated remains to bereaved consumers, and failed to provide disclosures required by the Funeral Rule.

“Lying to consumers about critical information including price and location of services when they are dealing with the loss of a loved one is outrageous and illegal,” said Samuel Levine, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “Our actions in this case show the FTC’s commitment to enforcing the Funeral Rule to protect consumers and honest funeral homes.”

The complaint alleged that the defendants claimed to be local funeral or cremation providers when speaking with customers, failing to disclose that the services would be contracted to a third party, sometimes hours away from loved ones. The complaint also alleged that when consumers were presented with undisclosed fees and higher prices, the defendants in some cases withheld the remains of their loved ones to extract payment.

The proposed court order, which was agreed to by the defendants in the case, would require the defendants to:

Share important info on their website: The order requires the defendants to disclose key facts on their website, including their actual physical location and a general price list, as well as a notice when funeral goods or services will be provided by a third-party company not owned by the defendants.
Disclose their price list upfront: The defendants are required to provide consumers with a general price list either during or immediately after their first interaction with a consumer about funeral goods or services, whether online or by telephone, and before any discussion of price occurs.
Provide info on third parties: The order requires the defendants to give consumers the name, address, and contact information for any third-party provider that will provide funeral goods or services.
Pay a civil penalty: The order requires the defendants to pay $275,000 in civil penalties.

The staff attorneys on this matter are Thomas Harris and Rebecca Plett.

The Department of Justice filed the order and civil penalty judgment on behalf of the Commission in the U.S. District Court for the District of Florida. NOTE: Consent judgments have the force of law when approved and signed by the District Court judge.

The Federal Trade Commission has finalized an order requiring Epic Games, the maker of the Fortnite video game, to pay $245 million to consumers to settle charges that the company used dark patterns to trick players into making unwanted purchases and let children rack up unauthorized charges without any parental involvement.

In a complaint announced in December as part of a settlement package with Epic, the FTC said that Epic deployed a variety of design tricks known as dark patterns aimed at getting consumers of all ages to make unintended in-game purchases. Fortnite’s counterintuitive, inconsistent, and confusing button configuration led players to incur unwanted charges based on the press of a single button. The company also made it easy for children to make purchases while playing Fortnite without requiring any parental consent. According to the FTC’s complaint, Epic also locked the accounts of customers who disputed unauthorized charges with their credit card companies.

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 Federal Trade Commission has taken enforcement action for the first time under its Health Breach Notification Rule against the telehealth and prescription drug discount provider GoodRx Holdings Inc., for failing to notify consumers and others of its unauthorized disclosures of consumers’ personal health information to Facebook, Google, and other companies. In a first-of-its-kind proposed order, filed by the…

In a complaint first announced in October 2022, the FTC said that Chegg failed to protect the personal information it collected from users and employees. For example, the company stored users’ personal data on its cloud storage databases in plain text and, until at least 2018, employed outdated and weak encryption to protect user passwords. As a result of its poor data security, Chegg experienced four data breaches that exposed the personal information of about 40 million users and employees, including users’ email addresses and sensitive scholarship data such as their dates of birth, sexual orientation and disabilities, as well as financial and medical information about Chegg employees.

The FTC’s order requires Chegg to implement a comprehensive information security program, limit the data the company can collect and retain, offer users multifactor authentication to secure their accounts, and allow users to request access to and deletion of their dat

  The Federal Trade Commission is ordering an end to illegal business tactics that Mastercard has been using to force merchants to route debit card payments through its payment network, and is requiring Mastercard to stop blocking the use of competing debit payment networks. Under a proposed FTC order, Mastercard will have to start providing competing networks with customer account…

The FTC has temporarily shut down a credit card debt relief scheme operated by Sean Austin, John Steven Huffman, and John Preston Thompson and their affiliated companies that allegedly took millions from people by falsely promising to eliminate or substantially reduce their credit card debt: ACRO SERVICES LLC, a limited liability company, also d/b/a Capital Compliance Solutions, AMERICAN CONSUMER RIGHTS…

The Federal Trade Commission and state attorneys general announced lawsuits against Google LLC and iHeartMedia, Inc. for airing nearly 29,000 deceptive endorsements by radio personalities promoting their use of and experience with Google’s Pixel 4 phone in 2019 and 2020. The proposed FTC orders and the state judgments settling the allegations bar Google and iHeartMedia from similar misrepresentations, and the state…

The Federal Trade Commission is sending payments totaling more than $830,300 to 1,376 people who began their enrollment at Saint James School of Medicine between Fall 2016 and Summer 2021. The for-profit medical school in the Caribbean and its Illinois-based operators allegedly misled prospective students about their chances of success—both in passing a medical school standardized test and in matching…

The Federal Trade Commission and State of California are taking action against home improvement financing provider Ygrene Energy Fund Inc. for deceiving consumers about the potential financial impact of its financing, and for unfairly recording liens on consumers’ homes without their consent. The FTC and California allege that Ygrene and its contractors falsely told consumers that the financing wouldn’t interfere with…

May 31, 2022. The Department of Justice, together with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), announced a settlement that, if approved by a federal court, will require Twitter Inc. to pay $150 million in civil penalties and implement robust compliance measures to protect users’ data privacy. The settlement will resolve allegations that Twitter violated the FTC Act and an administrative order…