In an effort to prevent deceptive conduct, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released Policy Statement on April 3rd, which, among other things, expands their definition of “abusive acts and practices.” As debates about how to comply with the CFPB’s new policy statement circulate, Keith Bradley and David Coats take to Law360 to
746 years. That is the total amount of time criminal defendants have been sentenced to prison from consumer fraud cases the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has referred to prosecutors the past five years. Indeed, the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection Criminal Liaison Unit (Bureau) highlighted these figures in its recently published Criminal Liaison Unit Report. Notably, this report emphasized the FTC’s growing enforcement concern over the use of deceptive negative option marketing (or dark patterns) and its intended aim to push egregious cases to prosecutors in the future. The Criminal Liaison Unit Report (the Report) is consistent with FTC’s November 4, 2021 Enforcement Policy Statement Regarding Negative Option Marketing, and the Report outlines four key takeaways for companies going forward.
Continue Reading FTC Signals More Criminal Referrals for Negative Option Fraudsters