News

2023

February

21

• FTC charges GoodRx with illegally disclosing customer health information. Federal regulators have accused the California-based discount drug and telehealth provider with violating federal law by “failing to notify consumers” about its “unauthorized disclosure” of their health information to Facebook, Google,

07

• Americans flunked this online privacy test. Many people in the United States would like to control the information that companies can learn about them online. Yet when presented with a series of true-or-false questions about how digital devices and services track

January

18

• Annoyed by grocery store loyalty apps? How to save anyway. You’ve seen the ads proclaiming, “Go digital and save even more!” To do this, though, you must have a smartphone. According to Consumer World founder Edgar Dworsky, shoppers who don&rsquo

05

• A breach at LastPass has password lessons for us all. LastPass, the maker of a popular security program for managing digital passwords, published details about a recent security breach in which cybercriminals had obtained copies of customers’ password vaults, potentially exposing millions of people

2022

December

19

• Epic games to pay $520 million over children’s privacy and trickery charges. The Federal Trade Commission announced a $520 million settlement with Epic Games, the developer of popular video games like Fortnite and Fall Guys, over charges that the company illegally collected information from children and, separately, tricked

• Victims of wire-transfer fraud reveal how they lost thousands to scammers. According to the FBI, about $2 billion is lost annually to wire-transfer fraud. Some cases involve newfangled payment apps, such as Zelle, while others rely on traditional fund transfers from bank accounts. “Unfortunately, it&rsquo

October

24

• She signed in with Google and strangers got access to all her files. You’ve probably seen it on lots of apps and websites: buttons urging you to sign in with your Google or Facebook account. Sometimes it’s to let you share files, photos or

August

• Beware of fake warnings in text messages. Scammers pose as a bank or pretend to be from Amazon and send a fake text about suspicious activity on your account or a delayed package only to get you upset. The knee

18

• Military veterans are more vulnerable to scams than civilians. Go Navy Tax Services seemed like a great option for sailors looking for help during tax season. Situated just outside the gates of Naval Base San Diego, one of the country’s biggest Navy

July

26

• LinkedIn privacy settings you should change now. LinkedIn has dozens of data, privacy and advertising settings you can control.  If you do only one thing make yourself anonymous while looking at other people’s profiles By default, every time you

07

• Apple unveils new security feature to block spyware. Apple said that it will introduce an innovative security feature “Lockdown Mode” to give potential targets of government hacking an easy way to make their iPhones safer. Once engaged, Lockdown Mode will block

04

• Google: To protect women, collect less data about everyone. Following the Supreme Court decision to overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling, anything Google knows about you could be acquired by police in states where abortion is now illegal. There is something Google could

June

22

• Justice Department and Meta settle landmark housing discrimination case. Facebook-owner Meta agreed to revamp the social network’s targeted advertising system under a sweeping settlement with the U.S. Justice Department, after the company was accused of allowing landlords to market their housing

21

• Customers say banks refuse to pay when money is stolen on Zelle. In recent years, payment apps like Zelle, Venmo and Cash App have become the preferred way for millions of customers to transfer money from one person to another. Banks argue that they shouldn’t

15

• What parents need to know about child ID theft. Kids usually don’t find out they’ve been victims of identity theft until they take a big life step like applying for federal student aid or buying their first car, says the

14

• Doctor check-in software harvests your health data. There’s a burgeoning business in harvesting our patient data to target us with ultra-personalized ads. Patients who think medical information should come from a doctor — rather than a pharmaceutical marketing department —

02

• You can ask Google to take your personal data out of its search results. Google is offering a new tool to anyone who doesn't want their phone number, email or street address and other personal information to be found online: People can ask for their contact details to

• Nobody reads privacy policies. How to give us real privacy choices.. I applaud Twitter for putting effort into being more understandable. The same goes for Facebook, which last week rewrote its infamous privacy policy to a secondary-school reading level — but also tripled its length to 12,000

May

26

• Twitter pays $150 million penalty for breaking privacy promises again. It’s FTC 101. Companies can’t tell consumers they will use their personal information for one purpose and then use it for another. But according to the FTC, that’s the kind

01

• Consumer Action INSIDER - May 2022. This month's INSIDER features stories about our recent activities, including a webinar exploring the impact of COVID on small businesses and a project using FinTech to improve financial wellness. Hotline Chronicles relates a woman's difficulty in receiving her income tax refund after attempting to have it sent to a prepaid card. And, we announce new settlements in our Class Action Database.