Luján, Cantwell, Colleagues Reintroduce Legislation to Restore FTC Authority to Return Billions to Consumers Ripped Off by Scams, Fraud & Unfair Practices

Consumers lost a record $15.9B to fraud and scams in 2025

For last 5 years, FTC has operated without "13(b)" authority-its strongest tool to secure redress for victims-& refunds dropped to $2B from $11B over prior 5 years

Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senators Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), a member of the Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) Ranking Member of the Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Edward Markey (D-Mass.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) reintroduced legislation to restore the Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) authority to return money to consumers victimized by illegal scams, fraud and other unfair practices. In April 2021, the Supreme Court slashed the FTC's "Section 13(b)" authority which it had used to refund $11.2 billion dollars to consumers in the five years prior to the decision. Over the last five years, the FTC has returned $2 billion while consumer scams have surged. Consumers reported $15.9 billion lost to fraud in 2025, up from $5.8 billion in 2021.

The bill's introduction follows a hearing on Wednesday with the Trump-appointed chair of the FTC who faced withering criticism and questions from Democrats over the illegal firing of the FTC's democratic commissioners, the agency's lack of independence and its failure to combat skyrocketing grocery and fuel prices on behalf of consumers. Nevertheless, its chair agreed that Congress should move quickly to restore the FTC's authority to get refunds for consumers. Watch Senator Luján's remarks from the hearing here.

"One of the FTC's primary responsibilities is protecting consumers from predatory scams and fraud," said Senator Luján. "As scams and fraud evolve and continue to rip off Americans, it is vital that Congress restore the FTC's authority to return money to victims of unfair and deceptive practices. I won't stand by as New Mexicans get ripped off. That's why I'm joining my colleagues in reintroducing this legislation to protect consumers and ensure they get their money back if they are victimized by bad actors."

"What American consumers really want is the FTC to make sure that bad actors are not exploiting things," Senator Cantwell said at Wednesday's committee hearing on the Trump FTC. "While scams have grown exponentially over the last five years, the FTC has been operating without its so called 13(b) authority to get money back for defrauded consumers. Between 2016 and 2020 the FTC returned more than $11 billion to consumers when it had this authority, but since the Supreme Court struck that down, they've returned just $2 billion to consumers."

"As our nation's top consumer protection agency, the FTC must be empowered with the necessary tools to stand up for consumers and small businesses that have fallen victim to scams and fraud schemes," said Senator Klobuchar. "This legislation will re-establish the FTC's ability to return money to victims of unfair or anticompetitive practices and hold scammers and monopolists accountable for their unlawful conduct."

The Consumer Protection Remedies Act of 2026 fully restores the FTC's ability to obtain monetary and other relief for consumers under Section 13(b) of the FTC Act.

The legislation protects consumers and fosters a fair marketplace by:

• Allowing the FTC to go to court and ask the judge to order scammers and law breakers to return the money they unlawfully took from consumers and give up their ill-gotten gains so that it is not profitable to break the law.
• Permitting the FTC to go to court to seek monetary remedies for consumers who were harmed because of anticompetitive conduct, in addition to unfair and deceptive or other unlawful conduct.
• Confirming that the FTC may sue for injunctions and consumer redress for prior conduct, not just ongoing conduct, to stop law breakers from reverting back to their unlawful conduct.
• Authorizing federal courts to order refunds or other relief when the FTC proves a violation of law.

For more than 40 years, the FTC relied on this enforcement power to refund money illegally taken from consumers and small business owners through unlawful and unfair business practices including telemarketing fraud, pyramid schemes, and data security and privacy scams. It had been especially critical in cases involving technology and pharmaceutical companies including Amazon, Uber, AT&T, Teva and Tracfone, which returned millions of dollars to victims of illegal conduct. Immediately following the Supreme Court action, even FTC cases that had been decided in favor of consumers were halted, allowing corporations to keep hundreds of millions of dollars in redress owed to victims.

Text of the bill can be found HERE

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