- 1 The Hidden Economy of Unclaimed Money
- 2 FTC Refund Programs: The Government Is Already Sending You Checks
- 3 Class Action Settlements 101: Why You're Owed Money From Cases You Never Filed
- 4 The Systematic Claim-Filing Method: How to Capture Every Dollar You're Owed
- 5 Data Breach Settlements: The Biggest Payouts, Easiest to Claim
- 6 Employment Settlements: Recovering Unpaid Wages You Didn't Know Were Stolen
- 7 Financial Services Settlements: Banks Owe You More Than You Think
- 8 Privacy and Tracking Settlements: Getting Paid for Your Data
- 9 Maximizing Your Payouts: Advanced Claim Strategies
- 10 Building a Recurring Free Money Practice
FTC Refund Programs: The Government Is Already Sending You Checks
When the FTC wins cases against scammers, they give the money back to victims. You might be one.
When the FTC wins cases against scammers, they give the money back to victims. You might be one.
Every year, the Federal Trade Commission wins lawsuits against scammers, deceptive companies, and fraudulent marketers. When they win, they often get monetary judgments — and under the FTC Act, they're required to distribute that money back to consumers who were harmed.
This isn't theoretical. The FTC has distributed over $11.2 billion in refunds to consumers over the past decade. In 2022 alone, they sent $392 million to 1.8 million consumers. These refunds come in two forms: checks mailed directly to consumers who filed claims, and checks automatically mailed to consumers whose information the FTC has on record from company records.
How FTC refunds work
When the FTC settles a case, they typically announce a refund program at ftc.gov/refunds. Each program has a claim administrator (often a third-party firm) who handles distribution. For some cases, you need to actively file a claim. For others, the FTC mails checks automatically to anyone on the company's customer list.
Common sources of FTC refunds: debt relief scams, fake subscription services, misleading health claims, robocall schemes, and investment fraud. If you've ever signed up for a free trial that was hard to cancel, used a debt consolidation service, or received unsolicited products in the mail — there may be an open FTC case involving that company.
What most people miss
The FTC database at ftc.gov/refunds lists every active refund program. Most people never check it. The typical refund is modest — $30 to $150 — but occasionally larger. And "modest" is relative when it requires zero effort beyond filing a claim online.
The more important habit is checking regularly. The FTC opens new refund programs dozens of times per year. A company that scammed you in 2019 may have an open refund program today with a deadline six months from now.
In Chapter 5, we cover how to systematically search FTC programs, set up alerts, and know when a case applies to you even if you don't remember the company's name.
