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Every year the FTC brings hundreds of cases against individuals and companies for violating consumer protection and competition laws that the agency enforces. These cases can involve fraud, scams, identity theft, false advertising, privacy violations, anti-competitive behavior and more. The Legal Library has detailed information about cases we have brought in federal court or through our internal administrative process, called an adjudicative proceeding.
A federal court has granted a request by the Federal Trade Commission to shut down a tech support scam that allegedly bilked consumers out of more than $17 million by pretending to represent Microsoft, Apple and other major tech companies.
In April 2019, the FTC announced that 16 defendants settled charges that they deceptively marketed “cognitive improvement” supplements using sham news websites containing false and unsubstantiated efficacy claims, references to non-existent clinical studies, and fraudulent consumer and celebrity endorsements. The FTC also alleged the defendants used affiliate marketers to make deceptive claims for products including Geniux, Xcel, EVO, and Ion-Z. The settlements ban the defendants from engaging in similar conduct in the future. In February 2020, the Commission announced it was sending refund checks totaling over $551,000 to defrauded consumers.
Office Depot, Inc. and its tech support software provider Support.com, Inc., settled Federal Trade Commission allegations that the two companies tricked customers into buying millions of dollars' worth of computer repair and technical services by deceptively claiming their software had found malware on the customers' computers.
Click Labs, Inc. settled Federal Trade Commission allegations that the company made false claims in connection with the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield framework.
Global Data Vault, LLC, settled Federal Trade Commission allegations that the company made false claims in connection with the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield framework.
Incentive Services, Inc., settled Federal Trade Commission allegations that the company made false claims in connection with the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield framework, which enables companies to transfer consumer data legally from European Union countries to the United States.
TDARX, Inc., settled Federal Trade Commission allegations that the company made false claims in connection with the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield framework.
The Federal Trade Commission authorized an action to block Illumina Inc.’s proposed $1.2 billion acquisition of Pacific Biosciences of California, alleging in an administrative complaint that Illumina is seeking to unlawfully maintain its monopoly in the U.S. market for next-generation DNA sequencing systems by extinguishing PacBio as a nascent competitive threat. The Commission vote to issue the administrative complaint and to authorize staff to seek a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction was 5-0. On Jan. 2, 2020, the parties abandoned the transaction.
DCR Workforce, Inc. reached a settlement with the FTC over allegations that the company made false or misleading representations about its participation in the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield framework.
LotaData settled Federal Trade Commission allegations that the company falsely claimed certification under the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield framework.
EmpiriStat settled Federal Trade Commission allegations that the company falsely claimed certification under the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield framework.
Trueface.ai settled Federal Trade Commission allegations that the company falsely claimed certification under the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield framework.
Thru, Inc. reached a settlement with the FTC over allegations that the company made false and misleading representations about its participation in the EU-U.S. and Swiss-U.S. Privacy Shield frameworks.
Medable settled Federal Trade Commission allegations that it falsely claimed participation in the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield framework, which enables companies to transfer consumer data legally from European Union countries to the United States.
InfoTrax, L.C. settled Federal Trade Commission allegations that the company failed to put in place reasonable security safeguards, allowing a hacker to access the personal information of more than a million consumers.
Unrollme Inc. reached a settlement with the FTC over allegations that the company deceived some consumers about how it accesses and uses their personal emails.