(Washington, D.C., December 12, 2018) – U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue today hailed the passage of the 2019 Farm Bill. The House of Representatives approved the conference report on the bill this afternoon, following the Senate’s passage yesterday.
Perdue issued the following statement:
“The passage of the 2019 Farm Bill is good news because it provides a strong safety net for farmers and ranchers, who need the dependability and certainty this legislation affords. This Farm Bill will help producers make decisions about the future, while also investing in important agricultural research and supporting trade programs to bolster exports. While I feel there were missed opportunities in forest management and in improving work requirements for certain SNAP recipients, this bill does include several helpful provisions and we will continue to build upon these through our authorities. I commend Congress for bringing the Farm Bill across the finish line and am encouraging President Trump to sign it.”
===========================
Better Business Bureau Study Shows How Free Trial Offers Mislead Consumers with Fake Endorsements,
Surprise Charges
Salt Lake City, UT, Dec. 12, 2018 – The internet is rife with ads and links leading to pictures of celebrities and “miracle” products that promise easy weight loss, whiter teeth or disappearing wrinkles. You may be enticed to try these products through a “risk-free” trial: Just enter your name, address and credit card number, and the product will be on its way for only a nominal shipping and handling charge. An in-depth investigative study by Better Business Bureau (BBB), however, finds that many of these free trial offers are not free. BBB receives complaints from free trial offer victims nearly every day and warns consumers to use extreme caution before agreeing to the offer and entering their credit card number.
The investigative study – “Subscription Traps and Deceptive Free Trials Scam Millions with Misleading Ads and Fake Celebrity Endorsements” -- looks at how free trial offers ensnare consumers in so-called “subscription traps” that hook them for expensive shipments of products they did not explicitly agree to buy. It digs into the scope of the problem, who is behind it, and the need for law enforcement and consumer education to address the issue. Read the complete report here.
Many free trial offers come with fine print, buried on the order page or by a link, that gives consumers only a short period of time to receive, evaluate and return the product to avoid being charged often times $100 or more. In addition, the same hidden information may state that by accepting the offer, you’ve signed up for monthly shipments of the products and such fees will be charged to your credit card. Many people find it difficult to contact the seller to stop recurring charges, halt shipments and get refunds. Such obscure terms in these offers often violate Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and BBB guidelines on advertising, as do the satisfaction guarantees that are ubiquitous in free trial offers.
The study found that many of the celebrity endorsements in these ads are fake. Dozens of celebrity names are used by these frauds without their knowledge or permission, ranging from Oprah Winfrey and Ellen DeGeneres to Mike Rowe, Tim Allen, and Sally Field. Sometimes the fine print even admits these endorsements are not real.
“Free trial offers often trick consumers into spending a little money to get a product and then surprise the consumer with unwanted monthly charges,” said Jane Driggs, BBB Northern Nevada and Utah President and CEO. “Celebrity pictures and names lure consumers to believe that the products are safe and the business is honest. Consumers must carefully read the terms and conditions of any trial offer very carefully before they take the plunge.”
Free trial offers can be a legitimate way for credible companies to introduce new products, provided that the company is transparent about the offer and its terms. However, fraudsters have turned such offers into a global multi-billion-dollar industry, one that grows every year.
Available FTC data shows that complaints about “free trials” more than doubled from 2015 to 2017, and BBB has received nearly 37,000 complaints and Scam Tracker reports over the last three years, though not all of these complaints involve monetary loss. In addition, victims in 14 resolved FTC cases collectively lost $1.3 billion, and consumers making reports to BBB lost an average of $186.
An examination of the BBB complaints and reports found that victims span all income and education levels, while a review of complaints to the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) from 2015 to 2017 shows a fairly even spread of age ranges. However, the BBB reports show that 72 percent of victims were female, likely because many free trial offers involve skin care products geared toward women.
One Utah woman followed a social media ad for a skincare product that purported to have been endorsed by Dr. Oz and Dolly Parton. She signed up for a free trial offer advertised. In total, she only lost $14, but could have lost over $100. In the end, she was able to receive a partial refund and could not reverse the charges with her credit card company.
One Nevada man saw an online advertisement for a facial cream that purported to have been endorsed by a celebrity. He signed up for the free trial offer advertised. In the end, he lost over $1,000 and was unable to get a refund. His credit card company reportedly responded to his request as saying “We have many complaints about Revival Beauty Products - they will not reverse the charges... claim you checked the wrong box.”
FTC data on free trial offers strongly suggests that most such enterprises operate in the U.S. and Canada, though the companies do sell extensively outside the U.S. and frequently employ overseas credit card processing. A 2017 study by the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre (CAFC) found that the credit card transactions at the center of the scam were processed through banks in 14 countries.
The report recommends:
BBB urges credit card companies to do more to ensure victims receive chargebacks where key conditions are not adequately disclosed. Because this fraud is dependent on the use of credit cards, more effort is needed to identify and combat deceptive free trial offers employing credit card systems. Also, it would helpful if they could do more to educate their customers.
Additional criminal prosecutions of this conduct are needed. The FTC and BBB have done much to address the issue, but do not have the ability to bring criminal charges. Only criminal prosecutions are likely to deter this type of fraud.
Social media sites should do more to curtail such deceptive advertising.
International cooperation is needed to combat this fraud. U.S. and Canadian law authorities need more information about victims from other countries. In addition, evidence and other key information may be located in a variety of countries around the world.
More consumer education is needed from news media and consumer groups like BBB.
What to do if you believe you have been a victim of a free trial offer fraud:
Complain to the company directly.
If that is not successful call the customer service number on the back of your credit card to complain to the bank.
Complain to www.bbb.org
Report the fraud to www.bbb.org/scamtracker
Report it to Federal Trade Commission (FTC) or call 877-FTC-Help
Report it to Internet Crime Complaint Center, or IC3
Report suspicious, confusing or misleading ads to BBB Ad Truth.
ABOUT BBB: For more than 100 years, the Better Business Bureau has been helping people find businesses, brands, and charities they can trust. In 2017, people turned to BBB more than 160 million times for BBB Business Profiles on more than 5.2 million businesses and Charity Reports on 11,000 charities, all available for free at bbb.org. There are local, independent BBBs across the United States, Canada, and Mexico, including BBB Serving Northern Nevada and Utah.
======================
DENVER—After serving nearly two years as Interior Secretary, President Trump announced that Ryan Zinke is resigning at the end of the year. Zinke has attracted unprecedented scrutiny from government investigators, accumulating at least 18 opened or requested investigations into his ethical conduct. One of these investigations has been referred to the Department of Justice.
The secretary’s departure leaves behind a lamentable legacy defined by opening large swaths of public lands to oil and gas development, cutting out the public from decision-making, and eliminating large portions of two national monuments in Utah.
Deputy Interior Secretary David Bernhardt is expected to take over the Interior Department until a new secretary is confirmed by the Senate. In response to Ryan Zinke’s resignation as Interior secretary, the Center for Western Priorities released the following statement from Executive Director Jennifer Rokala:
“Ryan Zinke will go down as the most anti-conservation Interior secretary in our nation’s history. By following President Trump’s marching orders to attack our public lands, Secretary Zinke oversaw an unprecedented and likely illegal attack on America’s national monuments.
“Surrounding himself with former lobbyists, it quickly became clear that Ryan Zinke was a pawn for the oil and gas industry. We can expect more of the same from Acting Secretary David Bernhardt, but without the laughable Teddy Roosevelt comparisons.”
During his tenure at the Interior Department, Zinke eliminated national monument protections from more than 2 million acres of public lands, opening the lands to mining and oil development. This action is still being challenged in federal court in Washington D.C.
Since President Trump took office, the Bureau of Land Management has offered up more than 13 million acres of public lands for oil and gas drilling as part of Zinke’s ‘energy dominance’ agenda—an area nearly the size of West Virginia. Under Zinke’s management, the Interior Department acted upon dozens of oil and mining industry wishes, including: lifting a moratorium on coal leasing, eliminating the BLM’s methane waste rule, eliminating a rule to ensure taxpayers get a fair share for resources extracted on public lands, cutting out the public from providing input on land management decisions, and overhauling management plans for sage-grouse habitat.
Deputy Interior Secretary David Bernhardt’s past lobbying client list includes more than a dozen companies that have regular business before the Interior Department, including Halliburton, Noble Energy, Cadiz Inc., and the Independent Petroleum Association trade group. Bernhardt also has a long track record lobbying for anti-wildlife clients and has repeatedly attempted to weaken endangered species protections.
Recently, Ryan Zinke tried to replace Interior’s acting Inspector General shortly after she referred an investigation into Secretary Zinke to the Department of Justice. Known, open investigations into Ryan Zinke include:
Zinke’s decision to ignore the advice of career Interior Department experts and block two Connecticut tribes.
Zinke's involvement in a land deal in Whitefish, Montana with the chairman of Halliburton
The Interior Department’s Office of Inspector General already determined that Ryan Zinke could have avoided spending $12,000 on a chartered flight to give a speech to a campaign donor, spent $25,000 to send a security detail along on a two-week vacation, and falsely claimed his wife was an ombudsman for the department to avoid paying for her travel.
Inquiry into Ryan Zinke’s land deal with Halliburton chairman escalates [New York Times]
Zinke seeks to explain meeting with Halliburton chairman [Politico]
The Trump administration granted energy industry wishes at a breakneck pace [Center for Western Priorities]
Oil was central in decision to shrink Bears Ears National Monument, emails show [New York Times]
“The guy doing the dirty work” at Trump’s Interior Department is an ex-oil lobbyist [Mother Jones]
David Bernhardt’s conflict-of-interest list keeps getting longer [Westwise]
For more information, visit westernpriorities.org. To speak with an expert on public lands, contact Aaron Weiss at 720-279-0019 or aaron@westernpriorities.org. Sign up for Look West to get daily public lands and energy news sent to your inbox.
