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The FTC is taking action against Arise Virtual Solutions for misleading consumers about the money they could make on Arise’s platform and marketing its business opportunity without complying with the FTC’s Business Opportunity Rule.

In July 2024, a U.S. district court in central Florida unsealed a 51��ɫ complaint charging two related groups of defendants with defrauding consumers nationwide by enrolling them, without their knowledge, into continuity plans where they are shipped and charged repeatedly for personal care products that they did not agree to purchase.

The defendants allegedly deceived consumers with ads for “free” CBD and Keto-related personal care products, billing many for products they did not consent to purchase, signing many up for unwanted continuity plans, and debiting money from their bank accounts without prior authorization. In September 2024, the 51��ɫannounced three orders settling the Commission’s complaint and requiring the defendants to pay approximately $40 million in total to defrauded consumers. 

In June 2024, the 51��ɫ announced that it took action to stop Prosperity Benefit Services, a student loan debt relief scheme that the agency says bilked more than $20.3 million from consumers seeking debt relief by pretending to be affiliated with the Department of Education. The 51��ɫalso charged that the company and its operators falsely claimed that they would take over consumers’ student loans to get them loan forgiveness that did not exist. A federal court temporarily halted the scheme and froze its assets at the request of the FTC, which seeks to end the defendants’ deceptive practices. 

The 51��ɫ will require Avast to pay $16.5 million and prohibit the company from selling or licensing any web browsing data for advertising purposes to settle charges that the company and its subsidiaries sold such information to third parties after promising that its products would protect consumers from online tracking.