FTC Cracks Down on Deceptive Student Loan Scheme and Unlawful Collection of Consumer Location Data

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has taken significant actions in the past week to protect American consumers from deceptive practices and unauthorized data collection. In one major enforcement action, the FTC has halted a scheme that allegedly bilked millions of dollars from consumers struggling with student loan debt.

According to the FTC, Nevada-based Superior Servicing and its operator Dennise Merdjanian made false claims to borrowers, promising student debt relief and forgiveness while pretending to be affiliated with the U.S. Department of Education. The scheme involved collecting illegal advance fees and monthly payments, which were not used to service the consumers’ student loans. Instead, the operators kept over $10 million for themselves, leaving consumers deeper in debt.

A federal court has temporarily halted the scheme and frozen its assets at the request of the FTC. Samuel Levine, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, emphasized that the FTC will continue to take decisive action against those who prey on Americans with student debt.

In another significant move, the FTC has taken enforcement actions against data broker Mobilewalla, Inc. and data analytics provider Gravy Analytics, Inc. (and its subsidiary Venntel, Inc.) for unlawfully collecting and selling consumer location data. The FTC has restricted the use of consumer data collected during online advertising auctions to ensure it is only used for the original purpose of participating in such auctions, and not for other purposes such as selling to other advertisers and analytics providers.

The FTC alleged that Gravy Analytics used geofencing to identify and sell lists of consumers who attended certain events related to medical conditions and places of worship, while Mobilewalla retained and sold raw data obtained through real-time bidding (RTB) processes. Both companies have agreed to implement measures to respect consumer privacy and protect sensitive data.

These actions highlight the FTC’s increased scrutiny and regulatory efforts to protect consumer privacy, particularly concerning data collected through websites that reveal visits to sensitive locations such as healthcare facilities, places of worship, and military installations).