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Many small businesses are looking for a financial life preserver to help them stay afloat until the COVID-19 wave subsides. But joint warning letters just sent by FTC staff and the Small Business Administration raise concerns that some companies – including lead generators – are making questionable claims about their affiliation with SBA-administered programs designed to offer emergency relief to struggling businesses. And the URL some of them...

If you have clients who operate nursing homes or assisted living residences, a word of advice from you now can save them from making a serious misstep. We’ve heard that some facilities are requiring residents on Medicaid to sign over their stimulus payments to the facility. That contradicts the CARES Act, so you’ll be doing your clients a favor by cautioning them against that practice – and here’s why. According to the CARES Act, those economic...

Small businesses and nonprofits should never be on the receiving end of another company’s deceptive practices. An FTC action challenges the methods of companies that allegedly pitch offers for “no risk” business publications and then follow up with hefty bills for unauthorized orders. But it doesn’t stop there. The FTC says if a business refuses to knuckle under to payment demands, the defendants turn the account over to a debt collector, whom...

Next on the FTC’s regulatory review calendar: the Health Breach Notification Rule. In place since 2009, the Rule requires vendors of personal health records and related entities that aren’t covered by HIPAA to notify individuals, the FTC, and, in some cases, the media when there has been a breach of unsecured personally identifiable health data. We’d like your perspectives on how the Rule has been working. As it now stands, companies must provide...

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis, the FTC has released dozens of warning letters against people trying to make an illegal buck off the Coronavirus. More than a month in, it seems like a good time to look back at what’s happened. If you follow this blog, you’ll know these have been busy weeks – with advice about spotting the many scams we’re all facing, news of the warning letters sent on a wide range of scams, and some enforcement...

Attending live performances and sporting events again is just one of the things people are looking forward to. But when that time comes, the issues raised at the FTC’s That’s the Ticket workshop will still affect consumers. The FTC just issued a Staff Perspective, highlighting key takeaways from the event. When the keynote speaker opens the day by saying, “As an economist, it’s clear that the ticket market is broken in significant ways,” you can...

FTC staff just sent letters to 45 more companies making COVID-19 prevention, treatment, or cure claims. There’s a lot to cover in this post, but it’s indicative of the breadth of questionable representations conveyed to consumers in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Musical Medicine. On Facebook and Twitter, the company has promoted a CD “of frequencies to resist the Coronavirus.” To “boost your immune system and weaken the virus,” consumers...

As companies struggle to stay afloat financially due to the economic reverberations of COVID-19, your employees are facing the same challenges at home. The FTC has something you can share with staff members in need – and it won’t cost you a thing. We’ve created a special page, Financial Impact of the Coronavirus, where we’ve compiled dollars-and-cents tips for consumers, as well as new information specifically addressing the effect of COVID-19 on...

If you’re a business owner, you may be planning to apply for a loan through the SBA’s Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) or Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL) program. These programs recently got hundreds of billions of dollars in new funding. But, while you’re focused on getting a loan, scammers may be focused on you: hoping to trick you into giving them sensitive business information, like your bank account numbers, employees’ Social Security...

It’s a case that brings together eight capital letters that are making headlines: COVID and CBD. A California marketer of a product advertised to prevent or treat COVID-19 has agreed to a preliminary order that prohibits him from making those claims. Pending the resolution of a parallel FTC administrative action, the proposed order also bars the defendant from representing that three CBD-based products he sells are effective cancer treatments...