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Government Action
The following describes a pending government action that has been formally brought by a government agency but has not yet been resolved. We are providing a summary of the government's allegations, which have not yet been proven.
August 17, 2017 The Federal Trade Commission has charged a group of marketers with debiting more than $40 million from consumers' bank accounts for membership in three online discount clubs they enrolled consumers in without their authorization.
According to the FTC, the defendants targeted consumers with websites and telemarketing calls that purported to offer payday or cash advance loans. Thinking they were applying for loans, consumers provided their bank account information, which the defendants used to enroll consumers in an online coupon service that cost monthly fees.
The FTC alleges that the defendants used electronic remotely created checks (RCCs) to withdraw from consumers' accounts an initial fee ranging from $49.89 to $99.49, and recurring monthly fees of $14 to $19.95. Hundreds of thousands of consumers called the defendants to cancel their memberships and request refunds, and thousands of people informed their banks about the unauthorized debits. Throughout the operation of the discount clubs, banks rejected more than 75 percent of the attempts to debit consumers' accounts. More than 99.5 percent of those who supposedly enrolled in the scheme never accessed any of the discount clubs' coupons.
August 17, 2017 - The FTC charged all of the defendants with violating the FTC Act. The Commission also charged the EDP and Hornbeam defendants with violating the Restore Online Shoppers' Confidence Act. In addition, the FTC charged defendants, except for Mark Ward, with violating the Telemarketing Sales Rule.
To access the full FTC press release, please visit: https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2017/08/ftc-says-operators-bogus-discount-clubs-took-tens-millions
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