FraudNews
11-28-2013, 11:09 AM
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is seeking a summary judgment in its case against businessman Jeremy Johnson to make the finding that the once internet entrepreneur cheated online customers for over $280 million.
They submitted their motion for summary judgment on Wednesday. The motion was filed in U.S. District Court, Las Vegas, Nevada.
The FTC has been battling Jeremy Johnson for three years now and on Wednesday filed a motion for summary judgment based on what it refers to as “irrefutable evidence” that the defendant was in violation of Federal law.
Mr. Johnson had an internet business known as iWorks that promised potential consumers opportunities to make money and secure government grants to help them do so.
Consumers who registered for iWorks would only need to pay the shipping and handling fee so that they could be shipped information on the various grants reportedly available.
Once consumers received the information, they found it to be disappointing and too general to really give them help. However, iWorks had already taken their credit card information and enrolled them along with charging their credit cards each month.
When these consumers saw the charges on their credit card billing statements, many would initiate what is referred to as a chargeback to recover their money or at least stop any more transactions.
Credit card companies began noticing a significant number of transactions against iWorks and other holdings of Mr. Johnson which caused them to alert others.
Enrolling those in subscriptions without their knowledge is known as negative option marketing which is what Mr. Johnson utilized. Negative option marketing operates on the pretext that when a consumer does not say “no” then it means “yes” by default.
Mr. Johnson continues to assert his innocence even though two of his associates, Kevin Pilon and Bryce Paine, have already settled out of court with the FTC.
They submitted their motion for summary judgment on Wednesday. The motion was filed in U.S. District Court, Las Vegas, Nevada.
The FTC has been battling Jeremy Johnson for three years now and on Wednesday filed a motion for summary judgment based on what it refers to as “irrefutable evidence” that the defendant was in violation of Federal law.
Mr. Johnson had an internet business known as iWorks that promised potential consumers opportunities to make money and secure government grants to help them do so.
Consumers who registered for iWorks would only need to pay the shipping and handling fee so that they could be shipped information on the various grants reportedly available.
Once consumers received the information, they found it to be disappointing and too general to really give them help. However, iWorks had already taken their credit card information and enrolled them along with charging their credit cards each month.
When these consumers saw the charges on their credit card billing statements, many would initiate what is referred to as a chargeback to recover their money or at least stop any more transactions.
Credit card companies began noticing a significant number of transactions against iWorks and other holdings of Mr. Johnson which caused them to alert others.
Enrolling those in subscriptions without their knowledge is known as negative option marketing which is what Mr. Johnson utilized. Negative option marketing operates on the pretext that when a consumer does not say “no” then it means “yes” by default.
Mr. Johnson continues to assert his innocence even though two of his associates, Kevin Pilon and Bryce Paine, have already settled out of court with the FTC.