The Federal Communications Commission announced that T-Mobile will pay a fine and provide benefits to consumers totaling at least $48 million as part of a settlement resolving an investigation into whether the company adequately disclosed speed and data restrictions for its “unlimited” data plan subscribers. The FCC’s investigation found that company policy allows it to […]
Author Archives: Allison Zieve
As we noted in a previous post, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau recently announced new rules, effective October 1, 2017, governing the prepaid debit card industry. As the Washington Post explains, "It’s a big change more than two years in the making that’s expected to bring some basic account protections to its customers, who are […]
The Federal Trade Commission announced today that it obtained court orders permanently barring a group of California-based marketers from the deceptive marketing and billing tactics allegedly used to promote their skincare products. Twenty-nine defendants who sold Auravie, Dellure, LéOR Skincare, and Miracle Face Kit branded skincare products have agreed to court orders with the FTC […]
The Federal Trade Commission announced that is charged the operators of a multi-national tech support company with using deceptive pop-up internet ads to scare thousands of consumers into paying hundreds of dollars each for unnecessary technical support services. It obtained a court order temporarily stopping the defendants’ practices and freezing their assets. The defendants commonly […]
NPR's Marketplace reported this morning: In the last few years, there's been such a spike in drug coupons, pharmaceutical companies have barely been able to print them fast enough. Coupons help patients shoulder the cost of expensive prescriptions, but a new paper out in the New England Journal of Medicine finds certain coupons are also […]
The Wall Street Journal reports that Mylan agreed today to a $465 million settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice and other agencies over the classification of its anti-allergy EpiPen Auto-Injector under the Medicaid Drug Rebate program. The full article (subscription required) is here.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has finalized a set of rules intended to protect prepaid account users. The new rule requires financial institutions to limit consumers’ losses when funds are stolen or cards are lost, investigate and resolve errors, and give consumers free and easy access to account information. The CFPB also finalized new “Know […]
The Federal Trade Commission announced today that, at the FTC's request, a federal court in Nevada has found that racecar driver Scott A. Tucker and several corporate defendants in a Kansas City-based payday lending scheme violated Section 5 of the FTC Act and has ordered them to pay $1.3 billion for deceiving consumers across the […]
From a Washington Post column today by Katrina vanden Heuvel: Wells Fargo’s abuse of its customers — its employees opened some 2 million accounts and credit cards for depositors who may not have wanted them — has sparked deserved outrage. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D.-Mass.) charged Wells Fargo chair and chief executive John Stumpf with “gutless […]
Below are announcement from the Department of Justice's Consumer Protection Branch about its work in September: Dual Jamaican-U.S. Citizen Pleads Guilty in Connection with Jamaica-Based Lottery Fraud Scheme (9/28/16) Woman Sentenced for Impersonating FBI Agent in Connection with Lottery Fraud Scheme Based in Jamaica (9/27/16) Justice Department and Law Enforcement Partners Announce Civil and Criminal […]