Fraud & Scams

FTC Begins Enforcing the TAKE IT DOWN Act

The Federal Trade Commission today began enforcing the TAKE IT DOWN Act (TIDA), a law requiring platforms, at the request of victi…

Federal Court Holds Payment Processor Cliq in Contempt for Violating FTC Order

At the request of the Federal Trade Commission, a federal judge ordered Cliq Inc., a payment processing company, and its operators…

IC3 Cryptocurrency Kiosk Complaint Data By State

Shutterstock to Pay $35 Million to Settle FTC Allegations Over Illegal Subscription and Cancellation Practices

Shutterstock Inc. will pay $35 million to settle Federal Trade Commission allegations that the online digital photo and video plat…

Lead Defendants in the IM Mastery Academy MLM Scheme to Turn Over Tens of Millions of Dollars in Assets to Settle FTC Charges

The Federal Trade Commission and State of Nevada will require five individual and corporate IM Mastery Academy defendants, includi…

FTC and Illinois Take Action to Stop Deceptive Conduct by Company that Created Thousands of Business Listings of Fake Local Home Repair Businesses

The U.S. Department of Justice, on behalf of the Federal Trade Commission, and the state of Illinois sued Chicago-based company Pr…

FTC Chairman Ferguson Advises Companies to Comply with the Take It Down Act

Federal Trade Commission Chairman Andrew N. Ferguson sent letters today to more than a dozen prominent technology companies remind…

FTC to Co-Host Workshop on Financial Services with Institute for Consumer Financial Choice on May 14-15

The Federal Trade Commission will co-host a workshop on May 14-15, 2026, with George Mason University Law School’s Institute for C…

FTC to Ban Kochava and Subsidiary from Selling Sensitive Location Data to Settle Charges They Sold Location Data Linked to Millions of Mobile Devices

The Federal Trade Commission will prohibit data broker Kochava and its subsidiary from selling, sharing or disclosing sensitive lo…

New FTC Data Show People Have Lost Billions to Social Media Scams

New data from the Federal Trade Commission show that, in 2025, nearly 30% of people who reported losing money to a scam said that…

FTC Takes Action Against High-Level MLM Participants who Deceived Workers About the Amount of Money They Can Earn

The Federal Trade Commission is taking action against high-level participants in a multilevel marketing (MLM) company over allegat…

FTC Sues to Stop Deceptive Health Care Scheme

At the Federal Trade Commission’s request, a U.S. district court in Florida has temporarily halted a nationwide operation that all…

Court Orders Operator of Timeshare Exit Scheme to Pay $140 Million Related to FTC Allegations the Scheme Took Millions from Consumers

Following an investigation by the Federal Trade Commission, a federal court has ordered one of the key operators of a timeshare ex…

FTC Stops Operation that Allegedly Targeted People Seeking Student Loan Debt Relief

The Federal Trade Commission has obtained a temporary restraining order against an alleged student loan debt relief scheme and its…

FTC Testifies Before Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee

The Federal Trade Commission testified before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation today to highlight the…

FTC Seeks Public Comment on Unfair and Deceptive Fee Practices in Online Food and Grocery Delivery Services

The Federal Trade Commission today announced it is seeking public comment on whether a rule is needed to address unfair or decepti…

FTC Order to Prohibit Forever Living and its Operators from Deceiving Consumers about Potential Earnings

Operators of multilevel marketing (MLM) company Forever Living will be permanently prohibited from making deceptive earnings claim…

FTC Announces “Made in the USA” Sweep, Including Three Law Enforcement Actions to Protect American Consumers and Businesses

Today, the Federal Trade Commission announced law enforcement actions involving three companies that deceived American consumers b…

FTC Takes Action Against High-Level MLM Participant who Deceived Workers About the Amount of Money They Can Earn

The Federal Trade Commission is taking action against a high-level participant in a multilevel marketing (MLM) company over allega…

Publishing.com to Pay $1.5 Million for Misleading Consumers about How Much Income They Could Earn Using the Company’s Products and Services

Publishing.com LLC and its two principals will pay $1.5 million and be required to substantiate earnings claims in the future to s…

FTC Takes Action Against TruHeight for Deceptive and Unsubstantiated Advertising of Supposed Height-Enhancing Supplements for Kids and Teens

Nevada-based Vanilla Chip LLC, which does business as TruHeight, and its two principals, Eden Stelmach and Justin Rapoport, have a…

Germany Doxes “UNKN,” Head of RU Ransomware Gangs REvil, GandCrab

An elusive hacker who went by the handle "UNKN" and ran the early Russian ransomware groups GandCrab and REvil now has a name and…

How AI Assistants are Moving the Security Goalposts

AI-based assistants or "agents" -- autonomous programs that have access to the user's computer, files, online services and can aut…

‘Starkiller’ Phishing Service Proxies Real Login Pages, MFA

Most phishing websites are little more than static copies of login pages for popular online destinations, and they are often quick…

Who Operates the Badbox 2.0 Botnet?

The cybercriminals in control of Kimwolf -- a disruptive botnet that has infected more than 2 million devices -- recently shared a…