Tag: Technology

The Federal Trade Commission has obtained proposed orders against the operators of a wide-ranging scheme known as “The Sales Mentor” that made millions by falsely promising consumers that they could make big money from telemarketing sales.

The defendants have agreed to proposed court orders that would require them to pay a total of $1 million for consumer refunds.

In a federal court complaint, the FTC charged the Tennessee-based group of companies, their owners, their officers, and a former sales director with deceiving consumers to pay hundreds or even thousands of dollars for supposed telemarketing training programs that rarely, if ever, delivered on what was promised. In addition, the FTC said the companies continued to make deceptive earnings claims even after they received the FTC’s Notices of Penalty Offenses on money-making opportunities and on endorsements and testimonials warning them that such conduct is illegal.

The FTC alleged that NTS IT Care and its CEO, Jagmeet Singh Virk, tricked consumers into buying expensive and unnecessary tech support services and often claimed to be affiliated with Microsoft, Apple, and other tech companies.

The Federal Trade Commission is taking action to stop Lurn, a Maryland-based online business coaching seller, from making unfounded claims that consumers can make significant income by starting an array of online businesses. The company, its CEO Anik Singal, and spokespeople Tyrone Cohen and David Kettner have agreed to court orders that will require them to stop their unlawful practices, and require Lurn and Singal to turn over $2.5 million to the FTC to be used to refund money to consumers they harmed.

The Federal Trade Commission is sending more than $2.4 million in refunds to consumers who paid for Lurn’s business consulting programs and were deceived about the amount of money they could make from these services.