FTC stands for Federal Trade Commission of USA which is an independent agency that strives towards ensuring the enforcement of the FTC or Federal Trade Commission’s Act. It stands to protect the rights of both consumer and business organisations.

Here are some facts about FTC:

• During the late 19th and early 20th century, following the outcry of abuses against the monopolistic trusts, the FTC was created and it began its operations from 1915. Before its formation, the Federal Trade Commission’s Act was passed to bring a stop to any unfair practices taking place in trade and commerce.

• The FTC was originally created to deal with monopoly problems.

• Both the FTC Act and the Clayton Act passed around the same time have undergone numerous amendments over the years and have in turn expanded the legal responsibilities of the Federal Trade Commission.

• On June 18th, 2010 the Congress ordered the Federal Trade Commission to re-examine light bulb packaging and introduced new packaging labels for light bulbs. In 2012, according to the new law it is mandatory to include the FTC lighting facts label in all the packages of the medium screw base bulbs. The label emphasises the lumen output thereby helping customers to choose the right bulb as per their personal lighting needs.

• The Federal Trade Commission does not have any jurisdiction over banks in America.

• FTC sent out a full refund to all the consumers who were duped by the Marketers of Bogus $10,000 credit line on 12th May of 2014.

• Since May of 2014, consumers can now place a complaint with the Federal trade Commission via their cell phones.

• FTC warns consumers against falling into phone call traps that ask you to pay your gas. Electricity or water bills using any specific and unusual method because they could be trying to steal consumers’ money.

• The Federal Trade Commission has reported in its annual report that identity thefts continue to be their highest rate of consumer complaints. In 2013 alone, American consumers have reported to have lost around $1.6 billion to fraud.

• Around 30% of all the complaints received by the Federal Trade Commission were that of tax and wage related incidents and frauds and is also a part of the above mentioned identity theft related complaint.

• Complaints made to the Federal Trade Commission are entered into the secure online database of Consumer Sentinel Network which is made available to over 2000 civil and criminal law enforcement agencies across the whole of USA. These agencies play a crucial role in aiding to track down criminals, identify victims and even track possible targets.

• Florida has the highest per capita record of reported identity thefts and frauds followed by Georgia and California as per the reports of the FTC.

Since its establishment in 1915, the FTC has managed to keep American business and trade free and fair and ensuring that proper law is enforced wherever necessary. It has also helped consumers to lodge complaints and get compensated where required or even warned consumers in many instances from falling into the trap of scams via phone calls, emails and other forms of marketing.