FTC shuts down 19 imposter websites, secures more than $80 million for consumers in scam crackdown
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Trade Commission has secured more than $80 million in consumer redress and helped shut down 19 websites impersonating the agency as part of its ongoing crackdown on government and business impersonation scams.
The FTC announced the enforcement results as it continues efforts to combat fraudulent operations that deceive consumers by falsely claiming to represent legitimate businesses or government agencies. Impersonation scams have remained the most frequently reported category of fraud in recent years, with consumers reporting billions of dollars in losses.
“Imposter scams have been the top reported fraud category over the past several years with consumers reporting billions in losses,” said Christopher Mufarrige, Director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection. “The FTC takes these scams very seriously and will continue to vigorously enforce the law against bad actors. If you pretend to be, or to be affiliated with, an entity to deceive consumers, you should expect to hear from the us.”
The FTC’s Impersonation Rule, which took effect in 2024, gives the agency stronger tools to pursue scammers who impersonate businesses or government agencies. The rule allows the FTC to file federal court cases seeking financial compensation for affected consumers and civil penalties against violators. Since the rule took effect, the agency has completed 14 enforcement actions resulting in more than $80 million in consumer redress.
Since early April 2025, the FTC has brought eight enforcement actions alleging violations of the rule, including cases involving deceptive health insurance marketing, fraudulent debt collection operations, bogus debt-relief services and false claims of government or business affiliations.
Among those cases were MediaAlpha, an online lead generation company accused of making deceptive government-affiliation claims in the health insurance market, and Innovative Partners, which allegedly used misleading government-affiliation claims to market health care plans. The agency also pursued Consumer Impact Recovery, described as a fake debt collector that used deceptive business-affiliation claims, and Mercury Marketing, which allegedly operated a sham substance use disorder-treatment clinic.
Other enforcement actions targeted Accelerated Debt Settlement, an alleged fraudulent debt-relief operation that targeted older adults using false government and business affiliations, and American Tax Service, which allegedly impersonated the Internal Revenue Service while operating a bogus tax debt-relief scheme. The FTC also brought a case against Nerd Solutions, which allegedly used false government and business affiliations to promote student loan debt-relief services.
The agency’s most recent action involved Credit Glory, an alleged fraudulent credit repair operation accused of impersonating debt collection entities and creditors and taking approximately $200 million from U.S. consumers, including military service members. In August 2026, a federal court temporarily halted the operation and froze its assets at the FTC’s request.
In addition to its enforcement actions, the FTC has worked to remove websites and social media accounts that falsely represent themselves as affiliated with the agency. Over the past year, the FTC sent warning letters to domain registrars and other service providers identifying websites that appeared to violate the Impersonation Rule.
Those efforts resulted in the removal of 19 websites, including FTC-Support.org, ftcfederal.org, FTC-Complaints.org, FTC-help.com, federaltradecommissionapp.com, federaltradecommission.net, fttc.us and FTB-gov.us. The agency has also worked to have social media pages impersonating the FTC and its officials removed.
The FTC is considering additional measures to address the role of online platforms in facilitating impersonation scams. In September, the agency announced that it was seeking public comment on whether to update its Impersonation Rule or develop a new rule addressing the role of social media companies, search engines and other digital marketplaces in promoting fraudulent advertisements.
The agency is specifically examining whether advertising optimization tools and services offered by those platforms help scammers impersonate legitimate businesses and government agencies. Under the existing rule, companies and individuals found to have violated its provisions may be required to provide refunds to affected consumers and pay civil penalties of up to $53,088 per violation.
The FTC has also expanded its consumer education efforts through the Never Ever campaign, launched in June to help people recognize and avoid government and business impersonation scams. The public-private initiative was coordinated through the Elder Justice Coordinating Council in partnership with participating agencies, including the Department of Justice and the Department of Health and Human Services.
More than 140 participants helped distribute the campaign’s educational messages through social media, blog posts, mailings, email campaigns and in-store postings. The effort was designed to encourage government agencies and businesses to help educate consumers about identifying fraudulent communications and protecting themselves from scams.
The FTC reminds consumers that the agency will never demand money, make threats, instruct someone to transfer money or promise a prize. Consumers can learn more about avoiding scams at consumer.ftc.gov and report suspected fraud, scams or deceptive business practices at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.
