FTC Refund Checks Benefit Victims of Vacation and Auto Warranty Scams

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FTC refund checks are now on the way to consumers who were affected by a pair of vacation package and extended vehicle warranty scams.

In one FTC refund mailing, more than 53,000 checks are going out to persons who never received the pricey vacation packages they purchased from VGC Corp of America. Total payments in this FTC refund mailing exceeds $532,000.

According to the FTC, defendant VGC Corp offered these vacation packages as a prize for calling a toll-free number and correctly answering a trivia question.

The “winners” of these packages, supposedly worth several thousand dollars each, were told they would have to pay as much as $400 in taxes and fees to claim them. But callers did not receive the vacation packages as promised, according to the FTC.

The FTC initiated an enforcement action against VGC Corp in May 2011, in cooperation with the Florida Attorney General’s Office. By February 2012, the enforcement action had resulted in a settlement.

The settlement imposes a $14 million judgment on VGC Corp, which is suspended contingent on the satisfaction of certain terms and conditions. In addition to making restitution payments for the FTC refund, VGC Corp is barred from continuing to sell vacation packages.

In another FTC refund going out this month, almost 6,000 checks are being mailed to persons who were deceived into purchasing fake “extended auto warranties” from defendant The Dolce Group Worldwide LLC and its principal Fereidoun “Fred” Khalilian.

Khalilian and The Dolce Group did business as My Car Solutions. According an FTC enforcement action launched in June 2010, these defendants falsely represented that they were authorized by car dealerships and manufacturers to sell warranty extensions on certain vehicles.

No one who purchased such an extension ever received it, the FTC says, and those who tried to get their money back found it nearly impossible. Compounding their offenses, the defendants allegedly promoted this scheme through the use of illegal robocalls.

This FTC enforcement action resulted in a $4.2 million judgment against the defendants. Khalilian and The Dolce Group are also barred from telemarketing, both on their own behalf and on that of anyone else. They are also prohibited from making any misrepresentations or omissions in the course of selling any goods or services.

Total FTC refund payments being sent out as a result of this settlement come to more than $4 million.

This FTC enforcement action is not the first to target Khalilian. In a 2001 settlement with the FTC, Khalilian was forced to pay $185,000 in restitution and was barred from all travel-related telemarketing.

For both the car warranty and vacation package FTC refunds, the FTC advises check recipients to cash their checks within 60 days. The FTC reminds recipients that it will never require them to pay any amount of money or to give up sensitive account information to receive a refund check.

Questions about these FTC refund checks can be directed to the refund administrator for each settlement.

The vacation package/VGC Corp of America refund is administrated by Epiq Systems, who can be reached at 1-844-308-8911. The administrator for the car warranty/Dolce Group refund is Rust Consulting, who can be reached at 1-877-703-3427.

UPDATE: May 2018, the FTC mailed a second round of checks to victims of the vacation prize scheme initiated by VGC Corporation of America. An additional 23,768 checks, totaling more than $292,000 were mailed out this month.