UPDATE1: Earlier this month we wrote that when the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) modified their rules for the first time since 1980, the changes included strict policies designed to monitor the new landscape that is social media — blogs, twitter, etc.

The FTC’s rules stated that individual bloggers had to follow strict guidelines for proper disclosure or they could be investigated and fined for their work. However, this week the FTC seems less concerned about individual bloggers and more concerned with the advertisers themselves: Read the rest of this entry »

Several Federal and state agencies have teamed up to crack down on mortgage loan modification fraud and foreclosure rescue scams — and the agencies are naming names!

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that they have sent warning letters to 71 companies “that are marketing potentially deceptive mortgage modification and foreclosure assistance programs. The letters inform these companies that their ads may violate federal law.”

The FTC has also taken “law enforcement actions” against the following companies: Read the rest of this entry »

Various financial initiatives became lost in shuffle during this Year of the Bailout, as the now infamous $700 billion financial-rescue plan took much of the spotlight. One of those initiatives lost along the way was identity theft.

Back in July the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced the required implementation of the “Red Flag Rules” — a mandate for financial institutions and creditors to develop and put into action a written identity-theft program. While the deadline to jump start the program has been delayed from November 1, 2008 until May 1, 2009, Federal regulators haven’t lost any steam trying to stem the prevention of stolen identities.

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I guess the government finally realized that Todd Davis’ company Life Lock wasn’t enough to put American’s minds at ease about identity theft. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the federal bank regulatory agency, and the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) have instituted “Red Flag Rules.” These regulations, part of the Fair and Accurate Credit Transaction Act of 2003, will require financial institutions and creditors to develop and implement a written prevention program that will detect and respond to patterns, practices, or specific activities that point to identity theft by November 1, 2008.

Financial institutions and creditors will monitor unusual account activity, fraud alerts, suspicious account application documents, and suspicious personal info.

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