FTC order $1.9M returned to consumers over rental ad scheme

ATLANTA - Nearly $2 million will be sent to consumers over fake rental ads and promises of free credit reports. The Federal Trade Commission says a company impersonated property owners and then slyly enrolled customers in programs that they didn't agree to. 

The lawsuit alleged that Credit Bureau Center formerly called MyScore LLC impersonated property owners. Then they would offer property tours for places they were not authorized to rent. But the catch was, you had to get a credit report from their website. It was advertised as free, but it wasn't. What consumers were doing was unwittingly enrolling in a credit monitoring service for almost $30 a month. Sometimes it took the duped several billing cycles to realize they'd been charged.

But this almost didn't happen and here's why. The federal lawsuit was filed in 2017. The next year, a judge ordered Credit Bureau Center to repay what it had taken. In 2021, the U.S. Supreme Court threw that out, saying the FTC couldn't collect that money under the act it said was violated. A few months later, another judge said the FTC could collect money by looping in the violation into a different legal rule. The company appealed and lost in June 2024.

The director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said in a press release, "This case demonstrates that the FTC is persistent and tireless in its work to return money to defrauded consumers." And that this is a "reminder that Congress must act to restore the FTC’s authority to obtain monetary relief so that when companies break the law, the FTC can get money back for injured consumers effectively and efficiently."

The FTC is sending checks to almost 43,000 checks. If you get one, you have 90 days to cash it before it becomes void.