Some victims of a collection of schemes that defrauded consumers out of almost $29 million will get a refund of as much as 80 percent of their losses, the Federal Trade Commission announced this week.
The FTC has settled with four perpetrators of the schemes, some of which falsely claimed through websites that they could help consumers get free government grant money. Some sites used patriotic images, including images of the President, to imply that they were affiliated with the government.
The FTC won summary judgement against the remaining 25 defendents, consisting of both individuals and corporations. An administrator with the FTC began mailing $1.7 million in refunds to 23,000 known victims of the government grant schemes, which included "Grant Connect."
