FTC Enforcement

August 4, 2015

The operators of a bogus credit repair scheme that allegedly tricked Spanish-speaking consumers into paying thousands of dollars each to supposedly improve their credit will be banned from offering credit repair services and subject to a monetary judgment under settlements with the FTC. According to a federal court complaint filed by the Commission in March 2015, the defendants did business using the name FTC Credit Solutions, misleading consumers not only about the nature of the alleged credit repair services they offered, but also claiming an affiliation with the Commission that did not exist. FTC

July 27, 2015

A group of scammers who falsely promised consumers new Medicare cards in order to obtain their bank account numbers and debit their accounts will be banned from selling healthcare-related products and services under FTC settlements. The settlements resolve charges the FTC filed last year against Benjamin Todd Workman and Glenn Erikson and their companies. Their telemarketers falsely told consumers they needed their bank account numbers to verify their identities before sending a new Medicare card, promising they would not take money from the accounts. In fact, they took several hundred dollars from each consumer’s account and provided nothing in return. In some cases, their telemarketers falsely promised to provide consumers with identity theft protection services. FTC

July 8, 2015

The marketers of a dietary supplement called Procera AVH will relinquish $1.4 million under settlements resolving FTC charges that they deceived consumers with claims that the supplement was clinically proven to significantly improve memory, mood, and other cognitive functions. Under the terms of the settlements, the defendants will pay $1 million to the FTC, and another $400,000 to satisfy a judgment in a case brought by local California law enforcement officials. They also will be barred from making similar deceptive claims in the future and from misrepresenting the existence, results, or conclusions of any scientific study. FTC

July 7, 2015

The operators of a payday lending scheme that allegedly bilked millions of dollars from consumers by trapping them into loans they never authorized will be banned from the consumer lending business under FTC settlements. The settlements stem from charges the FTC filed last year alleging that Timothy A. Coppinger, Frampton T. Rowland III, and their companies targeted online payday loan applicants and, using information from lead generators and data brokers, deposited money into those applicants’ bank accounts without their permission. The defendants then withdrew reoccurring “finance” charges without any of the payments going to pay down the principal owed. FTC

June 30, 2015

The FTC is mailing checks totaling approximately $4 million to consumers who lost money to a debt collection operation that extorted payments from them using false threats. In May 2014, the FTC settled charges against Asset Capital and Management Group, which, under various names, illegally extracted payments from consumers for credit card debt the defendants had purchased from creditors. The settlement order banned the defendants from the debt collection industry. FTC

June 26, 2015

The FTC has approved a final consent order involving Network Solutions, LLC, which misled consumers who bought its web hosting services by falsely promising a full refund if they canceled within 30 days. In an administrative complaint announced in April 2015, the FTC alleged that Network Solutions, a domain name registrar and web hosting provider, offered web hosting packages with a “30 Day Money Back Guarantee,” but did not adequately disclose that it withheld up to 30 percent of the refund from customers who cancelled within 30 days of buying an annual or multi-year package and registering an included domain name. FTC

June 15, 2015

The FTC is mailing checks totaling almost $1.9 million to consumers who lost money to a pyramid scheme that pretended to be a legitimate multi-level marketing program selling opportunities to operate online digital music stores. In June 2014, the FTC won an appeals court ruling upholding a district court finding that BurnLounge had operated a pyramid scheme. FTC

June 5, 2015

The FTC is mailing checks totaling more than $467,000 to consumers who lost money to a scheme that charged large up-front fees for mortgage relief services that were not provided. The FTC won a court action against Jackson, Crowder & Associates and Crowder Law Group, in which the FTC alleged that the defendants falsely promised to modify consumers’ mortgages and substantially reduce their monthly payments, exaggerated the role an attorney would play, and pretended to be affiliated with a government agency. FTC

May 28, 2015

The FTC has reached a settlement resolving the Commission’s antitrust suit charging Cephalon, Inc. with illegally blocking generic competition to its blockbuster sleep-disorder drug Provigil. The settlement ensures that Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, Ltd., which acquired Cephalon in 2012, will make a total of $1.2 billion available to compensate purchasers, including drug wholesalers, pharmacies, and insurers, who overpaid because of Cephalon’s illegal conduct. FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez said, “today’s landmark settlement is an important step in the FTC’s ongoing effort to protect consumers from anticompetitive pay for delay settlements, which burden patients, American businesses, and taxpayers with billions of dollars in higher prescription drug costs.”

May 26, 2015

Ashworth College has agreed to settle FTC charges it misrepresented to students that they would get the training and credentials needed to switch careers or get a new job, and that the course credits they earned would transfer to other schools. In reality, many programs offered by the for-profit institution did not meet state requirements for desired careers, and the claims made about credit transfers were often not true. Jessica Rich, Director, FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, said “when schools promise students they can transfer course credits or get a better job after completing their programs, they’d better be able to back up those claims.”