The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC)
has agreed to setttle a case against a group of individuals and
businesses charged with running a massive marketing scam targeting home
workers.
The FTC said that it had a agreed to a
series of settlements against the group which had been charged with
using deceptive marketing practices to collect money from users looking
to start their own web businesses.
The settlement will bar the individuals
from continuing with their practices and will also collect a series of
fines, though many of the penalties were suspended due to an inability
to pay.
According to the complain, first brough
forward in May of last year, the scam advertised the opportunity for
users to work from home with their own marketing and advertsiing sights.
The scam promised users large cash returns by generating referrals and
sales commissions from major retailers.
Instead, users were pushed to first
invest hundreds of dollars for startup fees and were then solicited a
series of advertising packages costing as much as $20,000 with the
promise of alrge cash returns which were never generated.
In addition to the ban ending the 'work
at home' scheme, the FTC has placed an order barring the group from
violating telemarketing regulations and collecting or profiting from the
personal data of users under threat of further penalty.
The FTC said that the order was part of
aalrger effort to crack down on scams preying on users in financial
hardship. With unemployment still high in many areas, users seeking
steady employment can often finds themselves more vulnerable to online
scams and 'get rich quick' schemes.
No comments:
Post a Comment