Antitrust Law Daily Wrap Up, CONSUMER PROTECTION NEWS: Updated international consumer complaint website announced by FTC, (Oct 13, 2015)

By Edward L. Puzzo, J.D.

The International Consumer Protection and Enforcement Network (ICPEN) has unveiled an updated version of the econsumer.gov website used to help law enforcement authorities gather and share cross-border consumer complaints and investigate international scams, the Federal Trade Commission has announced.

The FTC and consumer protection agencies from 33 other countries are part of ICPEN, an international network that aims to protect consumers’ economic interests around the world by sharing information about cross-border issues and encouraging global cooperation among law enforcement agencies.

Consumer complaints filed through econsumer.gov are entered into Consumer Sentinel, a complaint database maintained by the FTC, and are made available to enforcers and regulators in countries with participating agencies. Those agencies may use the complaints to investigate cross-border issues, uncover new scams, pursue regulatory or enforcement actions, and spot consumer trends.

“Increasingly, we live in a cross-border world in which consumers buy goods and services from around the globe, so the econsumer.gov website is a valuable means of detecting and combating unlawful practices that are occurring across national boundaries,” said Nisha Arora, ICPEN President and CMA Senior Director, Consumer. “I encourage anyone who has encountered a problem that crosses national borders to send the details to econsumer.gov.”

News: ConsumerProtection FederalTradeCommissionNews