MilConsumer Blog Feed

Gimme an F! Gimme an A! Gimme an L! Gimme an S! Gimme an E! What’s that spell? “False,” of course, which – along with deceptive and unsubstantiated – is how the FTC describes claims made by Sollers Education, also doing business as Sollers College.

We’ve warned professionals about online job scams involving phony “recruiters” who falsely claim to represent big-name businesses. Employment impersonators are still at it, but this time they’re approaching people with bogus offers to be “brand ambassadors” for well-known consumer products companies.

In the TV show "Star Trek: Voyager," Captain Janeway and crew headed to Delta Quadrant to take on wrongdoers that injured people by wielding a pernicious energy wave. In a twist on the story, the FTC has announced a proposed settlement with a cryptocurrency outfit called Voyager that injured people by wielding false claims that their accounts were “FDIC insured.” The agency is heading to court against Stephen Ehrlich, Voyager Digital’s CEO and founder.

Section 607(b) of the Fair Credit Reporting Act requires consumer reporting agencies to follow reasonable procedures to assure maximum possible accuracy of consumer report information concerning the person in question. “Reasonable procedures to assure maximum possible accuracy” isn’t a wish, a hope, or a lofty aspiration. It’s the law. A proposed $15 million FTC-CFPB settlement with Trans Union and its subsidiary TransUnion Rental Screening Solutions underscores that fundamental legal principle.

Many consumers describe them as annoying, injurious, invisible, and all too common. They could be talking about pernicious pests and in some ways, junk fees – hidden or falsely advertised charges that some companies try to sneak past people in an effort to burrow their way into their wallets – bear a resemblance to their six-legged counterparts. In November 2022, the FTC published an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking asking for your input about unfair or deceptive practices relating to fees. We received 12,000 comments from consumers, businesses, law enforcers, and others. Based on what you told us – as well as experience gained from decades of litigation challenging junk fees – the FTC is considering a proposed Rule on Unfair or Deceptive Fees and we’re asking for your comments again.

Scammers are hiding in plain sight on social media platforms and reports to the FTC’s Consumer Sentinel Network point to huge profits. One in four people who reported losing money to fraud since 2021 said it started on social media. [1] Reported losses to scams on social media during the same period hit a staggering $2.7 billion, far higher than any other method of contact. And because the vast majority of frauds are not reported, this figure...

Sometimes being the “Home of . . .” is an honorific to be proud of. Kudos, Cleveland, for rock ‘n’ roll, and thank you, Buffalo, for your contribution to chicken wings. But the Birthplace of Frauds and Scams isn’t a nickname to be envied. According to an FTC Data Spotlight , reports from consumers suggest that in many instances, that’s becoming a moniker for social media. The Data Spotlight reveals that the most frequently reported losses to...

Over the last several years, artificial intelligence (AI)—a term which can refer to a broad variety of technologies, as a previous FTC blog notes—has attracted an enormous amount of market and media attention. That’s in part because the potential of AI is exciting: there are opportunities for public progress by enhancing human capacity to integrate, analyze, and leverage information. But it’s also, perhaps in larger part, because the introduction...

Preparing for an emergency used to be an easier task for small businesses. Coastal companies could plan for hurricane season and northern businesses could expect a blizzard or two every winter. But businesses now face a host of other potentially disruptive disasters – wildfires, power outages, public health emergencies, and cyberattacks, to name just a few. Don’t let National Preparedness Month come to a close without updating your company’s plan...

Consumers, businesses, and policy makers have questions about AI, deepfakes, health privacy, and related issues, and the FTC wants to help facilitate an informed public discussion based on the facts. That’s why we’re hosting our eighth annual PrivacyCon event on March 6, 2024. The first order of business is to seek out by December 6, 2023, the latest empirical research and demonstrations from experts in the field. That may be where you come in.