FTC Mailing Checks to Consumers Tricked by Debt Collection Scheme

The Federal Trade Commission is mailing out restitution checks to consumers who lost money in a debt collection scheme that tricked individuals into making payday loan payments on debts they didn’t owe.

According to the FTC, Broadway Global Master and In-Arabia Solutions purported to be law enforcement or government agencies such as the “Federal Crime Unit of the Department of Justice” in order to intimidate individuals into paying on fake payday loans.

The federal agency is sending out 1,701 checks, totaling more than $596,000 to help partially reimburse consumers from this conspiracy. Those individuals who receive a check from the FTC regarding this case, have until June 8, 2016 to cash it.

The lawsuit pursued by the FTC started in 2012 when the agency accused the defendants of deceptive and abusive business activities. According to the complaint, Broadway Global Master and In-Arabia Solutions possessed consumers’ Social Security Numbers, bank accounts and various other private personal information which ended up convincing individuals that the calls were legit.

In addition, the FTC alleged that the defendants made repeated calls to consumers on cell, home, and work telephones. Within these phone calls, the defendants “frequently use abusive or profane language during these telephone calls, all as a means of intimidating and harassing consumers to convince them to pay the alleged debts.”

By September 2015, Broadway Global Master and In-Arabia Solutions were deemed prohibited from continuing in the debt collection business, as well as required to pay a large sum of money.

Consumers who were deceived by Global Master or In-Arabia Solutions and paid on a debt they didn’t actually owe, are expected to receive checks from the FTC in the average amount of $350. The government agency says that this is the approximate equivalent of 63 percent of the financial loss each individual experienced.

If you have any additional questions about the illegal debt collection lawsuit or the payments from the FTC, call the the Federal Trade Commission hotline at 1-844-449-3587.

The Broadway Global Master and In-Arabia Solutions lawsuit was prosecuted by Kerry O’Brien, Austin A.B. Ownbey, Sarah Elizabeth Schroeder, and Lisa Diane Rosenthal of the Federal Trade Commission.

The Broadway Global Master Debt Collection Lawsuit is Federal Trade Commission v. Broadway Global Master Inc., et al., Case No. 2:12-cv-00855, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California.

UPDATE: In January 2017, the FTC announced that it’s mailing out an additional 1,200 refund checks totaling almost $150,000 from the Broadway Global lawsuit. Those who cash both checks will get back nearly 85 percent of their original loss.