On March 26th Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chairman, Joe Simons, issued a statement regarding the FTC’s continuing efforts to protect consumers during the coronavirus pandemic. The statement came the day before nearly three dozen bipartisan senators signed a letter asking the FTC to clarify what efforts were being taken to prevent COVID-19-related fraud targeting consumers, particularly the elderly.
The statement confirmed that the FTC is asking consumers to report COVID-19 related scams and is currently working with federal and state law enforcers and other stakeholders to stop scammers and other unfair business practices related to COVID-19. At the same time, the FTC expressed that they will take a more flexible and reasonable approach in enforcing compliance requirements for businesses providing important COVID-19 related goods and services in good faith to consumers during the pandemic.
Businesses with questions about their compliance obligations during the pandemic can seek guidance from the FTC by emailing Business.covid@ftc.gov.