FTC Partners with Federal, State, and Local Law Enforcement Agencies to Announce Nationwide "Crackdown" on Abusive Debt Collection

FTC State Attorney General Debt Collection Enforcement

On November 4, the FTC announced the first coordinated federal, state, and local initiative to combat alleged abusive and deceptive debt collection practices, Operation Collection Protection. This announcement included authorities listing 30 new actions, including five enforcement actions by the FTC. These actions targeted the following practices: (i) extracting payments from consumers by using intimidation and inaccurate representations; (ii) impersonating servers or attorneys and threatening arrest or litigation; and (iii) collecting on debts that never existed or had already been paid. These cases bring the total number of actions taken under the Operation Collection Protection initiative this year to 115 and the total number of participating law enforcement partners to 70.