FTC Commissioners Testify in Senate About Efforts to Fight Consumer Fraud

Protecting consumers against fraud involves market forces, private rights and law enforcement, said acting FTC Chairman Maureen Ohlhausen in testimony prepared for a Senate Consumer Protection Subcommittee hearing Tuesday. Consumers, she said, want sufficient corporate information to make a variety of choices, and companies will want to keep their promises to protect their reputation. Consumers also will want to be able to bring legal action if there's a contract breach and the FTC and state attorneys general are there to protect them against fraud. Small businesses are susceptible to phishing and marketing scams and report thousands of frauds to the Better Business Bureau annually, she said. Commissioner Terrell McSweeny testified that the FTC received more than 3 million consumer complaints last year, with debt collection, imposter frauds and ID theft the top three areas (see 1703030021), and the commission's latest survey found nearly 26 million people had been victims of fraud in 2011. McSweeny said she's especially concerned that ransomware attacks will become more common. "In the not-too-distant future a consumer might turn on her smart TV only to see a message that asks for $50 in Bitcoin if she wants to watch television again," she said. Noted malware guru Simon Edwards sees smart TV owners as the next easy targets for ransomware attackers, he told a London briefing last month (see 1702090026).