Identity theft, especially during tax season, is a serious threat to Floridians. Today, Attorney General Pam Bondi is releasing an Identity Theft Resource Guide that offers a wealth of information about the many forms of identity theft, ways consumers can further protect private information and steps to take if identity theft occurs.
“Identity theft is a devastating crime that can leave victims facing years of financial hardships—but this new guide provides Floridians with the tools needed to better protect their sensitive financial and medical information from identify thieves,” said Attorney General Bondi.
Identity theft occurs when someone uses or attempts to use the private personal information of another person to commit fraud, typically for economic gain. Tax identity theft has been the most common form of identity theft reported to the Federal Trade Commission for the past five years. However, there are other ways scammers can use someone’s personal information to commit identity theft. Children are particularly at risk for identity theft because there is currently no other credit history associated with a minor’s Social Security number.
While identity theft is often associated with stolen credit card numbers and unauthorized loans, it also occurs in the medical field. Medical identity theft occurs when someone uses or attempts to use another person’s name and insurance information to receive medical treatment or acquire prescription drugs. Additionally, someone working in the medical field could use another person’s information to submit fraudulent bills to insurance providers.
For more information on types of identity theft, warning signs and tips, view the resource guide here.
Anyone who suspects identity theft should file a standard FTC Identity Theft Affidavit at IdentityTheft.gov and contact local law enforcement. Consumers can also file complaints about identity theft and other types of fraud with the Attorney General’s Office by visiting MyFloridaLegal.com or calling (866) 9-NO-SCAM.
Attorney General Pam Bondi
Twenty Additional States Join Multistate Antitrust Action Against Generic Drug Makers
Attorney General Pam Bondi and 39 other state attorneys general today filed an amended complaint in federal court, against several generic drug makers for allegedly fixing prices and allocating customers in the generic drug market. According to the amended complaint, the drug companies illegally conspired to artificially inflate and manipulate prices and reduce competition in the United States for two generic drugs. These drugs are doxycycline hyclate delayed release, an antibiotic, and glyburide, an oral diabetes medication.
The amended complaint filed today increases from 19 to 39 the number of plaintiff states joining Florida in a multistate action originally filed in federal district court in Connecticut in December 2016. The complaint also adds certain state and consumer protection claims, including violations of Florida’s Antitrust and Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Acts.
To view the public version of the amended complaint, click here.
The drug makers named in the complaint include: Auribindo Pharma USA, Inc., Citron Pharma, LLC, Heritage Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Mayne Pharma (USA), Inc., Mylan Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc.
For more information on the action filed last year, click here.
Attorney General Bondi Announces the 2016 Law Enforcement Officer of the Year
Attorney General Pam Bondi today named Florida Highway Patrol Lieutenant Channing Taylor the 2016 Law Enforcement Officer of the Year. Attorney General Bondi recognized Lieutenant Taylor and nine other officers from across the state for their dedication to protecting Floridians.
“I am eternally grateful for these nominees and all our brave law enforcement officers who risk their lives daily to keep us safe,” said Attorney General Bondi. “We cannot thank these officers enough for the sacrifices they and their families make to protect our communities.”
On June 14, 2015, while on patrol, Lieutenant Taylor noticed a truck being operated without headlights, approached the vehicle and asked the driver for her license. Suddenly, a male passenger produced a revolver and fired at Lieutenant Taylor, striking him once in the shoulder. Lieutenant Taylor took cover and drew his firearm. When the suspects attempted to flee the scene, Lieutenant Taylor left his covered position to gain a clear line of sight of the vehicle and its occupants and fired his service firearm, striking the male passenger and causing the vehicle to stop.
Lieutenant Taylor not only ended a life-threatening situation to himself, but his quick and decisive actions ensured the safety of the individuals around him. Lieutenant Taylor’s actions demonstrated that the safety and welfare of the public and the prevention of further injury was his main concern.
Each of today’s honorees had been previously selected as the Officer of the Year by a Florida law enforcement agency or association. The Florida Highway Patrol nominated Lieutenant Taylor, a 22-year veteran of FHP. A selection committee appointed by Attorney General Bondi considered the distinguished group of nominees from state agencies and organizations.
The following law enforcement officers are the additional nominees:
- Officer Christopher Ayala, Florida Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services;
- Officer David Brady, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission;
- Deputy Emanuel Gonzalez, Osceola County Sheriff’s Office;
- Officer Jason Hutchinson, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission;
- Officer Niel Johnson, North Miami Police Department;
- Special Agent Travis Lawson, Florida Department of Law Enforcement;
- Investigator Jason Newlin, the State Attorney’s Office for the Second Judicial Circuit;
- Investigator Jayson Paul, Volusia County Sheriff’s Office; and
- Deputy Nicholas Worthy, Brevard County Sheriff’s Office.
For more information on the nominees’ accomplishments, click here.
Attorney General Bondi to Present Law Enforcement Officer of the Year Award
Attorney General Pam Bondi will present the 2016 Law Enforcement Officer of the Year Award tomorrow, Feb. 22, 2017, at 10:00 a.m. in Tallahassee.
WHO: Attorney General Pam Bondi
WHAT: Attorney General’s Law Enforcement Officer of the Year Ceremony
WHEN: Wednesday, Feb. 22, 10:00 a.m.
WHERE: Cabinet Meeting Room
The Capitol, LL-03
Tallahassee, Fla.
Final Settlement Reached in Massive Robocalling Case
Attorney General Pam Bondi, the Federal Trade Commission and nine other state attorneys general today announced the entry of the last consent judgment shutting down an illegal robocalling scheme used to sell Florida cruise line vacations. The unlawful telemarketing campaign flooded consumers from across the country with billions of unwanted robocalls, averaging 12 to 15 million illegal calls a day, and generated millions of dollars for the companies. The fifth and final consent judgment announced today bars owner Fred Accuardi and his companies from assisting or participating in actions that violate telemarketing laws.
In 2015, Attorney General Bondi, in partnership with the FTC and other state attorneys general, filed a lawsuit against Caribbean Cruise Line, Inc., a marketing company, as well as seven other companies, for alleged involvement in a scheme that used political survey robocalls to illegally sell cruise vacations. The joint complaint was filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida.
The complaint alleged that the defendants’ robocalls violated both Florida and federal law by unlawfully using political surveys as a pretext to place sales calls pitching Bahamas cruises and related vacation packages to individuals on do-not-call lists and other individuals they were prohibited from calling.
Accuardi and his companies allegedly assisted and facilitated the illegal calls by providing robocallers with hundreds of telephone numbers. The defendants also allegedly made it possible for robocallers to change their caller identification information, funded a portion of the robocalling campaigns, and hid the robocallers’ identities from authorities.
In addition to barring Accuardi and his businesses from illegal telemarketing, the consent judgment announced today imposes a judgment of $1.35 million, which will be suspended after the defendants pay $2,500. If the court finds that the defendants misrepresented their financial condition, the entire judgment will become due.
Florida and the FTC led the joint action and were joined by attorneys general in nine other states: Colorado, Indiana, Kansas, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee and Washington.
This is just the latest action taken by Attorney General Bondi in partnership with the FTC to clamp down on illegal operations in Florida.
To view the consent judgment, click here.
To view the order approving the consent judgment, click here.
For more information about the actions, click here.
Consumers who receive robocall solicitations can report the calls to the Florida Attorney General’s Office by calling (866) 9-NO-SCAM or file a complaint by visiting MyFloridaLegal.com.
Attorney General Bondi Continues Efforts to Shut Down Tech Support Scams
Attorney General Pam Bondi filed a complaint against Fast Fix 123, LLC, Paul Cozzolino, Tyler Foss and Dennis Rinker for operating a tech support scam. According to the complaint, the scam exploited consumers’ fears about computer hackers, malware, viruses and other security threats, in order to convince consumers to purchase costly technical support services and software products.
“This scam was designed to trick consumers, some of them seniors, into believing their computers were severely compromised and scare them into buying unnecessary protection software,” said Attorney General Bondi. “With today’s action, we are seeking to shut down this tech support scam and acquire relief for the victims.”
The scam involved the use of deceptive internet pop-up windows disguised as legitimate operating system or web browser security warnings. In some cases, the pop-ups appeared to be messages from well-known software companies, such as Microsoft. These pop-ups suggested that consumers’ computers were at risk and instructed consumers to get immediate help by contacting a toll-free telephone number that connected consumers to sales agents at defendants’ inbound call center.
Building on the fear instilled by the pop-ups, these sales agents allegedly proceeded to lead callers through a carefully crafted, high-pressured sales script disguised as a computer diagnostic. These allegedly false diagnostics invariably led to the same conclusion, that the consumer’s computer needed immediate servicing. Sales agents then convinced consumers to purchase high-priced virus protection software for the devices.
The complaint alleges violation of Florida’s Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act and seeks civil penalties, as well as preliminary injunctive relief and relief for consumers. Attorney General Bondi’s Office is also asking the defendants to be permanently enjoined from advertising, marketing, promoting, providing, rendering, selling, soliciting, engaging in or accepting payment for any tech support services.
To view the complaint, click here.
This action is the ninth action in the tech support industry taken by Attorney General Bondi’s Office since November 2014. Florida has filed more litigation in this field than any other state.
Anyone who suspects unfair or deceptive business practices can file a complaint with the Attorney General’s Office at MyFloridaLegal.com or call (866) 9-NO-SCAM.
Attorney General Bondi’s Statement on Florida Supreme Court Decision in Perry v. State
Attorney General Pam Bondi today issued the following statement in response to the Florida Supreme Court’s decision in the case of Perry v. State:
“I am pleased with the Florida Supreme Court’s decision today to allow ongoing capital punishment cases to proceed with proper jury instruction. This decision provides our courts with the clarification needed to proceed with murder cases in which the death penalty is sought.”
To view the Florida Supreme Court’s decision, click here.
Attorney General Bondi secures refunds for victims of loan scam
Attorney General Pam Bondi today announced the multimillion dollar resolution of a lawsuit against several related unsecured loan services companies and operators. The three consent judgments and one settlement agreement obtained by Attorney General Bondi’s Office resolve allegations that the defendant companies and their principals unlawfully charged cash-strapped consumers fees ranging from $500 to more than $1,000 for online lending services that consumers could perform on their own for free. The defendants allegedly convinced consumers to pay illegal up-front fees by falsely guaranteeing that a lender in the defendants’ lender network had pre-approved the consumers for loans.
“This result will provide full restitution to consumers victimized by this fraudulent loan scheme and ensure no more consumers are harmed by these unscrupulous practices,” said Attorney General Bondi.
The settlement and consent judgments successfully conclude a lawsuit filed by the Attorney General’s Office in 2015 against three related loan service companies and three individuals. According to the complaint, the defendants employed deceptive marketing practices and sales pitches rife with false statements and misrepresentations regarding the defendants’ loan services. Some of the defendants also allegedly used consumers’ bank information to withdraw funds from the consumers’ bank accounts without authorization.
As part of the resolution, the defendants are banned from operating in the loan and credit services industries. Together, the consent judgments font-family: Arial; font-size: medium;”> impose a more than $8 million judgment against the companies. Pursuant to these judgments, the individual defendants are required to make payments that will result in full refunds to consumers who have submitted complaints against the companies. Once full restitution is made, the remainder of the judgments will be suspended. However, if the individual defendants are found to have misrepresented their financial condition or failed to comply with the occupational bans, the full judgment will become due immediately.
The defendants involved in this case include: Andrew Mangini, Michael Puglisi, David Alan Stern and three loan service companies, Liberty Unsecured, Inc., Unsecured Loan Source II, Inc. and First Solutions, Inc., d/b/a Credit One, Improvecredit.me and Unsecured Loan Capital.
To view the consent judgment against Liberty Unsecured and First Solutions, click here.
To view the consent judgment against Mangini, click here.
To view the consent judgment against Puglisi and Unsecured Loan Source II, click here.
To view the settlement agreement with Stern, click here.
Deceptive Travel Club Sales Tactics Thwarted
Attorney General Pam Bondi today announced an agreement that permanently shuts down a travel company operation and stops its alleged deceptive sales tactics. Map Destinations, LLC and its owners, operators and managers, 1st Choice Sales and Marketing, Inc., Peggy Bronaugh-Lehman, Kevin V. Lehman and Charles B. McIntyre III reached an agreement with the Attorney General’s Office resolving allegations that the defendants misled consumers who purchased the company’s travel club memberships. Additionally, Attorney General Bondi reached a separate agreement with Thomas Bradley Middleton, who solicited consumers to listen to Map Destinations’ sales pitch. Map Destinations is a travel company operating out of St. Augustine.
After Attorney General Bondi’s Office obtained a temporary injunction and asset freeze last year, the court-appointed receiver for Map Destinations determined that the company could not be operated legally and shut the business down.
“Tourism is vital to Florida’s economy and we will not tolerate anyone using deceptive or unfair trade practices to take advantage of people trying to take a vacation,” said Attorney General Bondi. “This settlement will help better protect travelers no matter their vacation destination.”
The defendants sold travel club memberships to consumers for thousands of dollars. Map Destinations promised consumers that these memberships would provide access to discounted travel available on a members-only website and a toll-free customer service line staffed by travel experts. Consumers complained that Map Destinations and its owners overstated the savings and nature of the travel benefits available through its travel club memberships and engaged in deceptive sales tactics at sales presentations.
As part of the settlement, the travel company and owners are banned from selling travel club memberships in Florida for five years and agreed to relinquish previously frozen assets. From the dissolution of these assets, $300,000 will be made available for consumer redress. Map Destinations agreed to cease all operations and dissolve the company. The defendants are also barred from disclosing the personal and financial information of Map Destinations’ customers.
Additionally, the settlement imposes a $500,000 penalty if Lehman or McIntyre violate the five-year prohibition and a $25,000 penalty if Middleton violates the five-year prohibition.
To view the consent order against Map Destinations, click here.
To view the settlement agreement reached with Map Destinations, click here.
To view the order approving the settlement reached with Middleton, click here.
To view the settlement agreement reached with Middleton, click here.
Attorney General Bondi Shuts Down Scam Debt Relief Operations
Attorney General Pam Bondi today announced federal court approval of proposed consent judgments against several Florida-based debt relief service providers. The consent judgments, filed jointly in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida by the Attorney General’s Office and the Federal Trade Commission, resolve allegations that the defendant debt relief companies targeted individuals deeply in debt with promises of lower credit card payments and substantial savings and collected upfront fees for the promised services, but never delivered on those services or provided refunds. As a result, consumers fell even deeper into debt.
“Debt relief scams target people trying to pay their bills and get out of debt and these types of scams impede their efforts—leaving victims, trying to do the right thing, owing more than when they asked for help,” said Attorney General Bondi. “We will continue to do everything in our power to identify and eliminate these scams to better protect Floridians.”
As part of the scam, the defendant debt relief service providers allegedly worked with payment processors to create more than two dozen shell merchants to process credit card payments for the scam operation. The defendants allegedly created these fake businesses to act as fronts and launder the illegal transactions, ultimately taking more than $12 million from consumers.
The defendant debt relief service providers subject to the consent judgments include Steven D. Short and his wife, Karissa L. Dyar, E.M. Systems & Services LLC, Administrative Management & Design LLC, Empirical Data Group Technologies, LLC, Epiphany Management Systems, LLC and KLS Industries, LLC, doing business as Satisfied Service Solutions, LLC. To view the order granting approval of the consent judgments with the debt relief service providers, click here.
The payment processors included in the court’s orders are CardReady LLC and its executives, Brandon A. Becker, James F. Berland and Andrew S. Padnick. To view the orders approving the consent judgment with CardReady and it executives, click here and here.
Additionally, a telemarketing company, One Easy Solution LLC and its principals, Christopher Miles, Jason Gagnon, Matthew Thomas and Kenneth Sallies are permanently banned from all telemarketing activities. To view the orders approving the consent judgment with One Easy and its principals, click here, font-family: Arial; font-size: medium;”> here, font-family: Arial; font-size: medium;”> here and here.
The court orders require a payment of more than $4 million and the relinquishment of property as follows:
- Card Ready, LLC, Brandon A. Becker and James F. Berland must pay $1.8 million;
- Matthew Thomas must pay $10,000 and turn over various pieces of jewelry;
- Steven D. Short and Karissa L. Dyar must turnover money held in numerous bank accounts;
- Andrew Padnick must pay almost $6,000;
- Christopher Miles must pay $6,600 and transfer certain bank accounts;
- Jason Gagnon must transfer a vehicle; and
- Kenneth Sallies must pay more than $2.5 million.
Under the federal consent orders, the debt relief service providers are permanently banned from conducting outbound telemarketing and selling or advertising any debt relief product or service. Additionally, the payment processors are permanently banned from the payment processing industry.
