United States of America: Announced FTC complaint and proposed final order against Lurn for alleged deceptive online practices

On 27 September 2023, the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed a complaint against Maryland-based online platform Lurn for making deceptive claims about consumers' potential earnings from online businesses and allegedly violating the Federal Trade Commission Act (FTC Act) concerning false or deceptive practices. In its complaint, the FTC stated that Lurn reportedly took USD 65 million from consumers from May 2019 to May 2022 with promises of high potential earnings. Despite a previous warning Notice of Penalty Offences issued by the FTC in October 2021, Lurn continued to advertise programs with false earning potential and offered expensive additional coaching services. The proposed court orders against Lurn and its CEO include a USD 2.5 million payment to the FTC for consumer refunds, a requirement for Lurn to inform customers of the FTC investigation, and a prohibition against misleading earning claims. The FTC's complaint and proposed final order were filed in the District Court of Maryland.