FTC Highlights its Work Enforcing the (Relatively New) Impersonation Rule

About a year ago, the Federal Trade Commission's Rule on Impersonation of Government and Businesses went into effect.  Essentially, the Rule prohibits marketers from falsely posing as government entities or officials or misrepresenting their affiliation with or sponsorship by the government.  The rule includes similar prohibitions on falsely posing as (or misrepresenting affiliation with or sponsorship by) businesses.  The Rule allows for the FTC to seek civil penalties from marketers who violate it. 

At the end of last week, the FTC made an announcement highlighting its work to enforce the Rule.  Noting that scams impersonating businesses and government are consistently among the top frauds reported to the FTC, the FTC reported that in the first year since the Rule went into effect, the FTC has brought five cases involving alleged violations and shut down thirteen websites that were illegally impersonating the Commission online.

In the announcement, Chris Mufarrige, the Director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection, said, "The billions of dollars American consumers lose at the hands of impersonators is staggering.  The FTC will not hesitate to enforce the Impersonation Rule against bad actors.”