The FTC announced a major federal and state crackdown on deceptive business opportunity schemes that promised jobs, made false earnings claims, or touted the chance to “be your own boss.” Operation Lost Opportunity involved more than 70 actions brought by the FTC and its partners, targeting scams that claimed to offer people help to start businesses as mystery shoppers, credit card processors, website operators, government insurance refund processors, and more. Thanks to the FTC’s amended Business Opportunity Rule, consumers have a new tool to help them evaluate a business opportunity before putting up any money — a one-page document where promoters must disclose key information. Learn about a consumer’s rights and a seller’s responsibilities at ftc.gov/bizopps.

To move forward with its $2.3 billion acquisition of Dollar Thrifty, Hertz has agreed to sell its Advantage Rent A Car business, as well as the rights to operate 29 Dollar Thrifty on-airport locations around the country. The proposed spin-offs settle FTC charges that the original deal would have reduced competition at 72 airports around the country now and in the future, allowing the combined firm to raise rental car prices for consumers. “American consumers rent more than 50 million vehicles at airports nationwide each year, spending $11 billion, so this is a real pocketbook issue for everyday people,” said FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz. “This bipartisan action by the FTC will ensure that consumers are not forced to pay higher prices for rental cars when they travel.” The public can comment on the proposed settlement through December 17, 2012. 

The FTC has disconnected five companies based in Arizona and Florida allegedly responsible for millions of illegal robocalls from “Rachel” and others from “Cardholder Services.” According to the FTC, the companies told people they could lower their credit card interest rates, saving them thousands of dollars in finance charges — for a fee. In some cases, people were led to believe the caller was their credit card company. But once people paid, the companies did little, if anything, to fulfill their promises, the FTC found, and those who later complained had a tough time getting their money back. For more on robocalls, visit ftc.gov/robocalls. 

Two of the nation’s leading paint companies have agreed to settle FTC charges they misled people to believe that some of their paints are free of potentially harmful volatile organic compounds (VOCs). According to the FTC, The Sherwin-Williams Company and PPG Architectural Finishes, Inc., claimed that some of their interior paints contained “zero” VOCs. But while this might have been true for the uncolored “base” paints, it wasn’t true for tinted paint — made by adding color to a base paint — which is what people usually buy. In many cases, both Sherwin-Williams’ Dutch Boy Refresh and PPG’s Pure Performance paints contain more than the claimed trace levels of VOCs once the base paint is tinted, the FTC says. Read Before You Buy Paint for more information.

Two companies that own and manage more than 300 payday loan and check cashing stores will pay $101,500 to settle FTC charges that they tossed people’s sensitive data into trash dumpsters near their stores. According to the FTC’s complaint, PLS Financial Services, Inc., and The Payday Loan Store of Illinois, Inc., failed to take reasonable measures to protect the information, and as a result, documents containing information like people’s Social Security numbers, employment information, loan applications, bank account information, and credit reports were tossed in the trash. The FTC charged that all three defendants lied about putting reasonable measures in place to protect sensitive information.

Compete, Inc., a web analytics company, has agreed to settle FTC charges that it allegedly used web-tracking software to collect people’s personal information without telling them the extent of the information it was collecting. Compete uses tracking software to collect data on the browsing behavior of millions of people, then sells reports to clients who want to improve their website traffic and sales. According to the FTC, one way Compete got people to download its tracking software was by urging them to join a “Consumer Input Panel” to win rewards while sharing their opinions about products and services. The tracking software collected more information than Compete told people it would, and despite the company’s assurances that information would be sent anonymously and securely, the company openly transmitted personal information, the FTC says.