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They do bring suits against scammers pretty regularly, but they only really go after very successful scammers who have stolen 7-8 figures+ from their victims. T
by mountainb 5y ago
They do bring suits against scammers pretty regularly, but they only really go after very successful scammers who have stolen 7-8 figures+ from their victims. The FTC does not have the resources to go after smaller claims. They leave that up to civil plaintiff to at least somewhat rectify. They're not as inactive as you think it's just that there's a LOT of federal crime that goes unpunished. The federal government in general is only capable of effectively pursuing a small sample of federal crimes that occur.
This has a lot to do with the way that we finance our regulators -- a lot of these crimes could be handled on a bounty system, which would fix the manpower problems.
- slownews45 5y agoBut even going against big players like Amazon, why can't they say - hey, you are selling products with totally false descriptions, refund everyone who but the fake "apple certified" device, or the "UL listed" device. Just do mass refunds across 10's of thousands of customers. Instead they are going after Apple. In my experience at least least scammy company out there. My refunds go through, the warranty / applecare stuff works, subscription renewals are fair and easy to cancel, no * fine print on trials.
- Nicksil 5y ago>But even going against big players like Amazon, why can't they say - hey, you are selling products with totally false descriptions, refund everyone who but the fake "apple certified" device, or the "UL listed" device. Just do mass refunds across 10's of thousands of customers. Do we know for a fact that there is no activity here, that the FTC (or other bodies) aren't currently building cases or performing investigations?
- ipaddr 5y agoWe as in the public have not been told this is underway. Nor have we heard hints, leaks or anything of the sort. This is not happening right now based on the available information.
- Nicksil 5y ago>We as in the public have not been told this is underway. Nor have we heard hints, leaks or anything of the sort. >This is not happening right now based on the available information. If we continue with that logic -- an apparent lack of information regarding active investigations -- the only conclusion that makes sense is "we don't know."
- mountainb 5y agoEvery federal agency that has anything to do with consumer products sends Amazon warning letters all the time regarding specific sellers and individuals, including the FTC, telling AMZ to knuckle down on the seller and/or the brand, or vaguely telling Amazon "do something" which Amazon may misinterpret. Then there are the more significant inquiries that are also going on apart from those 'market, regulate thyself' actions.
- jessaustin 5y agoKhan has only held the chair for two months. FTC has had other priorities in the past, but given her publishing history it's a good bet that Amazon is now under scrutiny as well.
- kube-system 5y ago> Just do mass refunds across 10's of thousands of customers. > Instead they are going after Apple. They have ordered Amazon to do mass refunds in the past for other reasons. https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2017/05/refunds-now-available-amazon-unauthorized-app-purchases https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2017/05/refun...
- Nicksil 5y ago>They're not as inactive as you think I don't think they're inactive. I tried to convey that by describing what may be perceived as "doing nothing" is really the inundation of awful behavior in this industry.
- fshbbdssbbgdd 5y agoCivil litigation is one version of a bounty system.
- rhacker 5y agoWhat's crappy is the long tail of these scams is probably 10 times bigger than the single largest scam.