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GOAT, FTC v.
In December 2024, the FTC announced a court order requiring GOAT, a leading online marketplace for sneakers, apparel, and accessories, to pay more than $2 million for violating an agency rule requiring companies to have reasonable shipping practices.
FTC Sends Nearly $1.9 Million in Refunds to Customers Harmed by Hey Dude’s Violations of the Mail Order Rule
FTC Order Will Ban NGL Labs and its Founders from Offering Anonymous Messaging Apps to Kids Under 18 and Halt Deceptive Claims Around AI Content Moderation
FTC Issues Report to Congress on Collaboration with State Attorneys General
Response Tree, LLC
On January 2, 2024, the Department of Justice on referral from the FTC filed a complaint alleging that California-based lead generator Response Tree LLC and its president, Derek Thomas Doherty operated more than 50 websites designed to trick consumers into providing their personal information for supposed mortgage refinancing loans and other services. These telemarketing campaigns, which made robocalls and calls to numbers on the DNC Registry, were illegal, as the telemarketers did not have consumers’ consent to be called.
Under a proposed order settling the FTC’s charges, Response Tree and Derek Thomas Doherty will be banned from making or assisting anyone else in making robocalls or calls to phone numbers on the FTC’s Do Not Call (DNC) Registry.
FTC, California DFPI Case Leads to Ban Against Operators of Mortgage Relief Scam Home Matters USA
Home Matters USA
The Federal Trade Commission and the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI) are taking action against various companies doing business as Home Matters USA, Academy Home Services, Atlantic Pacific Service Group, and Golden Home Services America, and the owners of the companies, Dominic Ahiga and Roger Scott Dyer, for operating a sham mortgage relief operation that misled consumers and cost them millions. In the first case brought jointly by the two agencies, the FTC and DFPI allege that the companies charged consumers thousands of dollars with false promises they would negotiate with consumers’ mortgage lenders to alter their loans, at times even representing they were affiliated with government COVID-19 relief programs. A federal court has temporarily shut down the operation and frozen the assets of the defendants in the case.
The court’s orders bar the individuals and their companies from directly or indirectly engaging in telemarketing, debt relief services, and making any misrepresentations or unsubstantiated claims about any product or service.
FTC Sends Warning Letters to Funeral Homes After First Undercover Phone Sweep
California-based Lead Generator Agrees to Settlement Banning It from Making or Assisting Others in Making Telemarketing Calls, Including Robocalls
FTC Obtains Orders Halting Mobile Cramming Scheme
Online Shoe Seller Hey Dude, Inc. to Pay $1.95 Million for Violating FTC’s Mail, Internet, and Telephone Order Rule and Suppressing Negative Consumer Reviews
Hey Dude Inc., FTC v.
In September 2023, the FTC announced online shoe retailer Hey Dude, Inc. (Hey Dude) will pay $1.95 million to settle charges that the company misled consumers by suppressing negative reviews, including more than 80 percent of reviews that failed to provide four or more stars out of a possible five. The FTC also contends the company violated the Commission’s Mail, Internet, or Telephone Order Merchandise Rule in several ways between 2020 and 2022. In August 2024, the FTC announced it was returning $1.9 million to defrauded consumers.