FTC
PP Blog Tag archives on references to "FTC."
DEVELOPING STORY: Online Claims About Acai Berry On FTC’s Radar Screen; Agency To Announce Action Against ‘Internet Marketers’ Next Week In Chicago (Oprah’s City)
In 2009, Oprah Winfrey sued more than 40 companies for trademark infringement amid claims they were fleecing the public by implying she endorsed their Acai berry products. Winfrey, an American television and business icon, is based in Chicago. Harpo Productions, which produces The Oprah Winfrey Show and The Dr. Oz Show, filed the infringement lawsuit […]
KABOOM! FTC Says ‘Medical Discount’ Hucksters Used Images Of Obama, Words From Congressional Speech To Fleece Customers; Receiver Already Has Seized Website; Feds, 24 States Launch Fraud Crackdown
EDITOR’S NOTE: Some readers will recall that one of the Secret Service’s allegations in the AdSurfDaily Ponzi case is that pitchmen tried to sanitize the scheme by making false claims that ASD President Andy Bowdoin had received an award for business acumen from President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney. Others will recall […]
‘Con Artists’ Who Ran Domain-Renewal Scam Hit With $4.2 Million Judgment; Thousands Of Website Owners Tricked Into Paying Bogus Bills, FTC Says
Thousands of U.S. consumers, businesses and nonprofits were tricked into paying “bogus bills” for the renewal of their website domains by “con artists” in Canada, the FTC said. A federal judge now has issued judgments of more than $4.2 million against the accused scammers. In the cases of three defendants, the judgment was suspended based […]
DATA NETWORK AFFILIATES: Churches Have ‘MORAL OBLIGATION’ To Pitch Members On Firm’s ‘Mortgage Reduction’ Program; Purported Data And Cell-Phone Firm Venturing Into Foreclosure-Rescue And ‘Resort’ Businesses
A multilevel-marketing (MLM) company that positioned itself as a firm that collected data that could be used by law enforcement and the AMBER Alert program to rescue abducted children — and later declared itself the world champion of cell-phone pricing — may be entering the foreclosure-rescue and real-estate businesses, members said. News about the purported […]
BULLETIN: FTC Paints Picture Of Spectacular, International Fraud Involving At Least 16 ‘Sham’ Companies, More Than 100 Bogus Merchant Accounts And 14 ‘Money Mules’; More Than 1.3 Million People Fleeced
PP BLOG BULLETIN >>> MOVING >>> More than 1.3 million debit or credit-card numbers have been compromised in an international micro-payments scheme that resulted in fraudulent charges totaling more than $10 million. The money appears to have been whisked offshore to bank accounts in Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, Bulgaria, Cyprus, and Kyrgyzstan, the FTC said. At […]
BULLETIN: KABOOM x 1,215! Feds Announce ‘Operation Stolen Dreams’ Mortgage-Fraud Sweep; 1,215 Defendants Charged In Largest Mortgage Scammer Takedown In U.S. History
BULLETIN: UPDATED 1:10 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.) At least 1,215 criminal defendants have been named in “Operation Stolen Dreams,” which U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder described as a “three and a half month takedown of mortgage fraud schemes throughout the country.” The mortgage-fraud operation began March 1 and is the largest-such undertaking in U.S. history, Holder […]
SHOCKING FRAUD AND PRIVACY ALLEGATIONS: FTC, Florida Say Alcoholism Cure Corp. Used .Org Domains, Threatened To Disclose Members’ Drinking Problems If They Canceled Program
The FTC and Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum have charged a Florida company that “touted a phony cure for alcoholism” with false advertising claims, false efficacy claims, false privacy claims, false claims about professional qualifications, unauthorized billing and deceptive trade practices. Among the allegations in a civil lawsuit against Alcoholism Cure Corp. were that it […]
FTC Gives Nod To BBB For Helping It Solve Advanced-Fee Scam Operated By Recidivist Offender; James Nicholson Banned For Life From Telemarketing, Hit With $17.2 Million Judgment, Loses Power Boat
A Florida man who operated a previous scam has been banned for life from the telemarketing business after state and federal authorities and the Better Business Bureau worked together to expose the operation, the Federal Trade Commission said. “The FTC received invaluable assistance in this matter from the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the University of […]
BULLETIN: Autosurf Biz Takes Another Pounding; Federal Judge Adds Noobing As Receivership Defendant In Fraud Case Against Parent Company; 14 Other Subsidiaries Named
UPDATED 6:05 P.M. EDT (U.S.A., Jan. 20, 2011.) In yet another case that portends disaster for the so-called “autosurf” industry, a federal judge has ordered the Noobing autosurf to be added as a receivership defendant in a fraud case brought against its parent company. The FTC and attorneys general from Minnesota, North Carolina and Kansas […]
BULLETIN: Receiver In Affiliate Strategies Inc. (ASI) Case Asks Federal Judge To Add Noobing Autosurf To Receivership Probe After Inquiries By ‘Tax Authorities’
The court-appointed receiver in the fraud case against the parent company of the Noobing autosurf has asked a federal judge for the authority to add Noobing to the receivership probe. Larry Cook, the receiver, said that Noobing and 14 other companies under the Affiliate Strategies Inc. (ASI) umbrella have become the subjects of “numerous inquiries” […]
FTC Uncovers ‘Widespread Data Breaches’; Sends Letters To Nearly 100 Organizations, Opens ‘Non-Public Investigations’
Saying it has identified nearly 100 organizations that lost control of personal information they maintain on employees, customers or others, the FTC has notified the entities to tighten security on peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing networks. At the same time, the agency said it has opened “non-public investigations” of companies whose customer or employee information has been […]