Tag: deceptive/misleading conduct

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.

The FTC will require Cox Media Group, MindSift, and 1010 Digital Works to pay a total of $930,000 to settle allegations they deceived customers by falsely claiming to offer an AI-powered service that could target localized ads based on conversations captured from consumers’ smart devices and that consumers had opted into such targeting

Shutterstock Inc. will pay $35 million to settle Federal Trade Commission allegations that the online digital photo and video platform illegally made tens of millions of dollars from a range of unfair and deceptive practices, including charging consumers for products without their informed consent and making it difficult to cancel subscriptions. 

The U.S. Department of Justice, on behalf of FTC, and the state of Illinois sued Chicago-based company Premium Home Service (PHS) and its owner for fraudulently creating thousands of fake online business listings for home repair companies to deceive consumers into thinking they were choosing reputable local companies for home repairs. 

The Federal Trade Commission sued Uber Technologies, Inc. and Uber USA LLC (collectively, “Uber”) for alleged violations of Section 5 of the FTC Act and the Restore Online Shoppers’ Confidence
Act (“ROSCA”). Among other things, the complaint alleges that Uber charges consumers for its subscription service, Uber One, through a negative option feature but has failed to provide a simple mechanism to stop recurring charges. The complaint also alleges Uber has charged consumers without their consent in violation of the FTC Act and ROSCA. Further, the complaint alleges Uber falsely claims that consumers can cancel Uber One at “any time” with no additional fees. 

The FTC filed a lawsuit today against Uber, alleging the rideshare and delivery company charged consumers for its Uber One subscription service without their consent, failed to deliver promised savings, and made it difficult for users to cancel the service despite its “cancel anytime” promises.

The FTC reached a settlement with Steven and Gina Merritt, senior participants in a multilevel marketing company, over allegations that they deceived consumers about the amount of money they could earn from selling products and recruiting new participants to the MLM.

In April 2026, at the FTC’s request, a U.S. district court in Florida temporarily halted a nationwide operation that allegedly impersonates the government and large insurance carriers to deceive consumers seeking health insurance into buying supposedly comprehensive PPO plans that do not offer the coverage they seek.

The U.S. Department of Justice, on behalf of the Federal Trade Commission, and the Wisconsin Attorney General, filed suit against Consumer Law Protection and related companies, along with their owners and operators, Christopher Carroll, George Reed, Louann Reed, Scott Jackson, and Eduardo Balderas for scamming consumers—mostly older adults—out of more than $90 million in a massive timeshare exit scam.