Three years after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling limited how far the Federal Trade Commission could go to help fraud victims, Illinoisans who have fallen victim to fraud have had trouble getting help.
According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Illinois residents lost $338 million to fraud in 2023 alone.
The 2021 decision ruled that the FTC, which usually enforces consumer protection laws, could only take companies to court to stop illegal behavior while not being able to recover damages, as the agency had done for decades.
Illinois Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky recently introduced the Consumer Protection and Recovery Act, which aims to restore the FTC’s authority.
“We’re talking about millions and billions of dollars that had been returned to consumers,” Schakowsky said.
According to a US Senate report, the FTC recovered more than $65 million for over 375,000 Illinois residents between 2018 and 2021 from the agency’s legal actions against various companies.
Schakowsky said the agency is now extremely limited in what it can do to help consumers get their money back.
“It takes a long time to try to do anything to get the money back. And so, to the extent that any money can come back, it’s a very cumbersome process,” Schakowsky said.
According to FTC data, the agency was able to recover $483 million for consumers in 2020, an amount that fell 30% to $330 million in 2023.
“It hasn’t been fair and unfortunately, because the companies that do it, it’s been a lot easier for them to just get away with it. And we’re tired of that. It’s not right,” Schakowsky said.
An FTC spokesperson said the agency cannot comment on pending legislation in a statement to NBC Chicago, but that it has called on Congress to restore its ability to “ask courts to order companies to return the money they illegally took from consumers.”
That bill is currently in the committee process and could be up for a vote next month.