Articles Posted in FTC Consumer Protection Highlights

An operation that sold bogus college financial aid services was permanently banned on July 6 from selling academic goods or services for repeatedly violating court orders. The Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) originally charged that the defendants promised better college financial aid packages than someone could find on their own, which they did not deliver. Settlement…

The Federal Trade Commission staff took action earlier this week to increase compliance with the Contact Lens Rule by sellers of non-corrective, decorative/cosmetic contact lenses. In 2003, Congress enacted the Fairness to Contact Lens Consumers Act, which imposed new prescription release and verification requirements on prescribers and sellers of contact lenses. In July 2004, the…

The Federal Trade Commission today called on social networking sites to make sure children visiting their sites can stay safe and their parents can protect them. Testifying for the FTC, Commissioner Pamela Jones Harbour told the House Committee on Energy and Commerce,Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigation that there is a “need for social networking Web…

A Southern California-based mortgage broker will pay $50,000 under a court order filed today on behalf of the Federal Trade Commission for allegedly calling tens of thousands of consumers who are on the National Do Not Call (DNC) Registry for telemarketers and for failing to pay the annual fee required to access the DNC Registry.…

As the number of phone numbers on the National Do Not Call (DNC) Registry surpassed 125 million, the Federal Trade Commission today reiterated that despite the claims made in e-mails circulating on the Internet, consumers should not be concerned that their cell phone numbers will be released to telemarketers at any time in the near…

The Federal Trade Commission today told a congressional subcommittee that, although the video game industry has made progress in complying with and improving its self-regulatory policies on the marketing of violent video games, more needs to be done. Lydia Parnes, Director of the Federal Trade Commission's Bureau of Consumer Protection, told the House Committee on…

A seller of discount health and prescription drug cards and its telemarketer will pay civil penalties of $300,000 and $50,000, respectively, to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that they have been violating the Do Not Call (DNC) provisions of the Commission’s Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR), and will be prohibited from similar conduct in the future,…

The Federal Trade Commission today announced a set of final judgments and orders settling charges against two Florida-based principals and the corporations they ran for misleading consumers into believing they could earn up to $3,000 per week stuffing envelopes at home. While the consumers – many of whom had responded to misleading e-mail spam messages…

The companies behind the popular Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas video game have agreed to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that they failed to disclose important information about the game's content to consumers. According to the FTC, the companies, in advertising the Entertainment Software Rating Board (“ESRB”) rating for the game, did not tell consumers…

The Stanley Works, a U.S. toolmaker, will pay a $205,000 civil penalty to settle Federal Trade Commission charges it falsely claimed its Zero Degree ratchets were Made in the USA. The claims allegedly violated a 1999 FTC order issued against the company to resolve earlier allegations that it had made false Made in the USA…