Washington, DC - The Federal Trade Commission is mailing 72,836 checks totaling more than $2.9 million to people who lost money to an alleged scheme that trapped them into payday loans they never authorized or whose terms were deceptive.

According to the FTC, CWB Services, LLC and related defendants used consumer information from online lead generators and data brokers to create fake payday loan agreements. After depositing money into people’s accounts without their permission, they withdrew recurring “finance” charges every two weeks without applying any of the payments to the supposed loan. In some instances, consumers applied for payday loans, but the defendants charged them more than they said they would. Under settlements with the FTC, the defendants are banned from the consumer lending business.

The average refund amount is $40.61. Recipients should deposit or cash checks within 60 days. The FTC never requires people to pay money or provide account information to cash a refund check. If recipients have questions about the case, they should contact the FTC’s refund administrator, Epiq Systems, Inc., at 888-521-5208.

FTC law enforcement actions led to more than $6.4 billion in refunds for consumers in a one-year period between July 2016 and June 2017. To learn more about the FTC’s refund program, visit www.ftc.gov/refunds.