WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Federal Trade Commission has refunded over $482 million to consumers across the country in 2020.
More than 50 different FTC cases resulted in distributions to consumers in 2020, the regulator said. The FTC Act allows the FTC to seek refunds from companies whose actions harm consumers.
According to FTC, more than 1.6 million customers consumers received refunds from the agency as a result of law enforcement cases in 2020.
The FTC said that in 2020 it also issued refunds through PayPal payments to consumers in 11 cases.
The case that resulted in the most money returned to consumers in 2020 was a multi-agency settlement with Western Union. As a result of law enforcement actions brought against Western Union by the FTC, the U.S. Department of Justice, and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, about 142,000 consumers received 100 percent of their money back, totaling around $300 million. Refunds went to people who sent money via Western Union in response to romance scams, grandparent scams, advanced-fee loan scams, lottery scams, and other internet scams, and who filed complaints about having been so defrauded.
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