The rule gives the FTC stronger tools to combat those that impersonate government agencies and businesses, enabling the FTC to file federal court cases seeking civil penalties
The Federal Trade Commission’s new rule on government and business impersonation is now in effect.
This new rule is particularly important given the Supreme Court’s April 2021 ruling in AMG Capital Management LLC v. FTC, which significantly limited the FTC's ability to require defendants to return money to injured consumers.
For example and without limitation, the new rule would enable FTC attorneys to directly seek monetary relief in federal court from scammers that:
- Use government seals or business logos when communicating with consumers by mail or online.
- Spoof government and business emails and web addresses, including spoofing “.gov” email addresses or using lookalike email addresses or websites that rely on misspellings of a company’s name.
- Falsely imply government or business affiliation by using terms that are known to be affiliated with a government agency or business (e.g., stating “I’m calling from the Clerk’s Office” to falsely imply affiliation with a court of law).
The FTC is also accepting public comments until April 30, 2024, on a supplemental notice of proposed rulemaking that would prohibit the impersonation of individuals and prohibit providing scammers with the means and instruments to execute such scams.
Consult with an experienced FTC CID attorneys in order to implement preventative measures designed to avoid regulatory scrutiny in conjunction with marketing campaigns.
