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The FTC has filed
suit against global hospitality company
Wyndham Worldwide Corporation and three of its subsidiaries for not protecting
people’s personal information. According to the FTC, the alleged security
failures led to three data breaches at Wyndham hotels in less than two years;
as a result, the credit card data of
hundreds of thousands of people was exported to an Internet domain
registered in Russia, and millions of
dollars were lost to fraud. In its complaint, the FTC says that
Wyndham’s privacy policy misrepresented the security measures the company took
to protect people’s information. And even
after faulty security led to one breach, the FTC charged, Wyndham failed to correct
security vulnerabilities it knew about or take other reasonable measures.
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The company behind an
alleged prepaid
calling card scheme targeting immigrants has agreed
to stop making misleading claims, pending a trial in which the FTC will seek to
stop the deceptive claims permanently and get callers’ money back. According to
the FTC, DR Phone misrepresented the talk time people would get with its
prepaid phone cards and didn’t adequately disclose additional fees. In fact, cards tested by the agency delivered, on
average, only 40 percent of the minutes advertised. "Vietnam Best" and "Pearls of
Africa" were among the cards sold in convenience stores, groceries, and kiosks
nationwide, and online. Read When Minutes Matter to learn more.
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When marketers use the phrase "up
to" in claims about their products, many people are likely to
believe that the maximum result is what they will achieve, says a new FTC-commissioned study. The
study looked at what a test group of people thought about ads for replacement
home windows that said they would save people "up to 47%" in energy
costs. Many people believed the
ads meant users typically would realize 47% savings. The study reinforces the
FTC's view that advertisers should be able to show that people are likely to
achieve the maximum results under normal circumstances. The test was conducted during
investigations of five companies that settled FTC charges in February for unsupported claims about their
windows.
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The FTC is mailing
454 refund checks totaling more than $2.9 million to people who lost money from a scam that
promoted video rental machines as a business opportunity. American Entertainment Distributors, Inc.,
allegedly got people to pay about $30,000 or more apiece for video rental
vending machines by telling them they could expect to earn between $60,000
and $80,000 a year, or recoup their initial investment in six to 14 months. But
the defendants had no reasonable basis for their claims, the FTC says, and all
investors lost money. For more on the refunds, visit ftc.gov/refunds. For more on evaluating claims about business
opportunities, read Looking to Earn Extra Income?
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"The FTC hears from
American consumers every day about illegal robocalls and how intrusive they are.
We're ratcheting up our efforts to stop this invasion of consumers' privacy."
— Jon Leibowitz, FTC
Chairman
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Thanks to autodialers that can cheaply send out
thousands of phone calls every minute, the number of robocalls — calls with
recorded messages instead of live people — has spiked. And many of them are
illegal: companies can’t call with a recorded sales message if you haven't
given your written permission. Learn more with two new videos at ftc.gov/robocalls. Have
questions? FTC staff will be answering them on Twitter and
Facebook Tuesday, July 17, 2012, at 1 pm ET. Follow the @FTC and/or tweet
questions to #FTCrobo. The FTC also is hosting a
robocall summit in October to look at enforcement, education, and tech issues
related to stopping illegal robocalls.
A new suite of materials about identity theft and identity protection is available from the FTC at ftc.gov/idtheft: a brief brochure with topline tips everyone should have, a
bigger booklet
with step-by-step instructions on dealing with the crime, and a brochure on how
to recognize a new twist — child identity
theft. You’ll also find information on medical and
tax-related identity theft, and three new minute-long animated videos that
focus on the most important messages.
The FTC will host a one-day public
workshop on October
2, 2012, to look at competition and consumer protection issues in the pet
medications industry. The quality and cost of pet medications is an
important issue for many people: 62 percent of U.S. households own a pet, and
Americans spend an estimated $7 billion annually on pet medications.
If
you’ve got kids, and you’ve got video games, you also have free tools to help
you learn about games your kids want to play. Game ratings and parental
controls can help you make sure your kids are playing according to your rules —
like not accessing online features if you don’t want them to. Kids, Parents, and
Video Games also includes information
about parental controls and ratings for mobile apps.
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IN OTHER NEWS:
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SHARE THIS:
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Employers may look at
your credit history before hiring you, so get a free credit report at
annualcreditreport.com before you apply for a job: http://go.usa.gov/weg
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If
you’ve got kids, and you’ve got video games, you also have free tools like game
ratings and parental controls: http://go.usa.gov/wer
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Getting robocalls you don’t want? Hang up. Pressing any number can
lead to more calls: http://go.usa.gov/wei
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