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The Federal Trade Commission, jointly with the Department of Justice and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, have sued a New York-based marketer of herbal tea, seeking to permanently block deceptive ads that claim its Earth Tea is clinically proven to treat, cure, and prevent COVID-19.

In July 2024, the FTC announced that online career-training company, Career Step, LLC has been ordered to pay $43.5 million in debt cancellation and cash to resolve charges brought by the Federal Trade Commission that alleged the company lured consumers, specifically servicemembers and their families, with deceptive ads that falsely touted inflated employment outcomes, job placement, and partnerships with prominent companies.

In March 2025, the FTC sent more than $15.5 million in refunds to consumers who were harmed by Career Step’s deceptive advertising.

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.

In January 2025, the FTC sent more than $960,000 in refunds to consumers who paid a job scheme known as “The Sales Mentor” that, according to the FTC, falsely promised consumers that they would make big money from telemarketing sales.  

The Federal Trade Commission is taking action against tax preparation company H&R Block for unfairly deleting consumers’ tax data and requiring them to contact customer service when they downgrade to more affordable online products, and deceptively marketing their products as “free” when they were not free for many consumers. These practices cost consumers time and money.

A proposed FTC settlement would stop H&R Block from unfairly requiring consumers seeking to downgrade to a cheaper H&R Block product to contact customer service, from unfairly deleting users' previously entered data and from making deceptive claims about “free” tax filing.

The tax-filing company has agreed to a proposed settlement that will require the company to make a number of changes for the 2025 tax filing season in addition to longer-term changes. The settlement would also require the company to pay $7 million to the FTC to be used to redress consumers harmed by the company’s unlawful practices.

In January 2025, The Federal Trade Commission finalized an order requiring the tax preparation company H&R Block to make a number of changes for the 2025 tax filing season in addition to longer-term changes. The settlement also requires the company to pay $7 million to be used to compensate consumers harmed by the company’s unlawful practices.

The Federal Trade Commission, along with the New York Attorney General, are taking action against gig economy company Handy Technologies for making a broad array of deceptive claims about how much money workers on its platform could earn.

The complaint charges that Handy, which currently does business as Angi Services, has peppered its advertisements with earnings claims that don’t reflect the reality for the overwhelming majority of workers on the platform. The complaint also charges that Handy has failed to clearly disclose fees and fines that have led to millions of dollars being withheld from workers.

Under the terms of a proposed settlement order, Handy would be required to turn over $2.95 million to be used to provide refunds to harmed workers, and make substantial changes to ensure that workers give clear consent to any fees charged by the company and that the company gives workers clear direction about how to avoid fines.

A group of 10 car dealerships doing business as Leader Automotive Group and their parent company, AutoCanada, will be required to pay $20 million to settle allegations they systematically defrauded consumers looking to buy vehicles as a result of a lawsuit by the Federal Trade Commission and state of Illinois.

In addition to paying $20 million, which will be used to refund harmed consumers, the proposed settlement also would require the companies to make clear disclosures of a car’s offering price—the actual price any consumer can pay to get the car, excluding only required government charges—and get consent from buyers for any charges. The $20 million proposed monetary judgment is the largest the FTC has secured against an auto dealer.

The FTC filed a complaint against SuperGoodDeals.com, Inc. and its owner, Kevin J. Lipsitz, alleging that the defendants falsely promised consumers next-day shipping of facemasks and other personal protective equipment (PPE) to deal with the coronavirus pandemic. In addition, the FTC alleged that some of the other merchandise sold through the SuperGoodDeals website were falsely advertised as “authentic” or “certified.”

Kevin Lipsitz, who defrauded consumers by falsely promising “next day” shipping of facemasks and respirators to consumers at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, will be banned from selling personal protective equipment (PPE) and be required to turn over more than $145,000 to the FTC.

In December 2024, the FTC sent more than $114,000 to consumers who were deceived by “next day shipping” claims on badly needed personal protective equipment (PPE) by online seller SuperGoodDeals.com.

As a result of a Federal Trade Commission lawsuit, a federal court has temporarily shut down the operations of a business opportunity scam that has taken more than $12 million from consumers with false promises of big returns selling goods through Amazon and Walmart.

According to a complaint filed by the FTC, since at least 2022, the scheme operated under the names Lunar Capital Ventures, Ecom Genie and Profitable Automation, and before that as the now-dissolved company Valiant Consultants Inc. Under each of these names, the scheme has made enticing but bogus claims that consumers could earn lavish profits by paying tens of thousands of dollars to start online e-commerce businesses. The promised earnings rarely, if ever, materialize, and most consumers lose substantial amounts of money.