In 2016, the Consumer Sentinel Network collected more than 3.1 million consumer complaints, which the FTC sorted into 30 top complaint categories. The complaint categories making up the top 10 are:
There are far too many online business operators that are not taking legal compliance seriously enough and subjecting themselves to potential liability. A commercial website is still a business regardless of the fact that its home is the world wide web, instead of a traditional brick and mortar facility. In its October 2014 Web Server Survey, NetCraft confirmed that there are over 1 billion websites on the world wide web today. If you think that governments and enforcement agencies across the world have not taken notice of this fact, then you are kidding yourself. In the United States, federal agencies such as the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) are prosecuting website operators at an increasing rate with more severe penalties. State attorneys are exercising subpoena power and commencing enforcement actions more than ever before and the United States has not been shy about seizing websites that are suspected of violating applicable law. Additionally, private civil lawsuits in both the federal and state courts involving online businesses and the internet are an everyday occurrence and at all-time highs. Almost all traditional (brick and mortar) successful business operators make legal compliance a top priority and usually won’t even open their doors for business…