The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has notified the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) of a refund programme it will be carrying out in the coming months.
“Since 2013, US company Next-Gen has deceived millions of people all over the world with its sweepstakes scams,” SECO said in a statementExternal link on Monday. “The company contacted its victims with the promise of a large cash prize in exchange for a comparatively small fee, which was to be paid in advance. Many people paid this fee; however, none of them received the prize money they were promised. Swiss citizens are among the victims of this scam.”
In Switzerland, a total of 1,278 investors were affected. They will be compensated for a total of $380,000 (CHF365,000), for an average of $96 per individual, the FTC said.
In 2018 the FTC, a consumer protection agency, initiated legal proceedings in the US against Next-Gen. At the beginning of 2019 Next-Gen agreed to pay several million dollars as part of a settlement. The FTC is now using almost $25 million from this settlement to provide partial refunds to the victims, some of whom live in Switzerland.
According to SECO, the FTC will be contacting the people concerned in Switzerland over the coming months in order to process these refunds. The deadline to claim the refund is October 17, 2022. More information on the refund programme can be found on the FTC’s websiteExternal link.
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