The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), along with six states, filed a lawsuit in opposition to John Shriber and Roman Zaks, house owners of the room renting and roommate finder platform Roomster, for allegedly defrauding shoppers, accusing them of paying individuals for pretend opinions and listings on their web site. The company says that the “misleading ways” violated the FTC Act and state legal guidelines.
In a complaint filed by the FTC and the attorneys basic of New York, California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, and Massachusetts, the group alleges that Roomster launched “tens of 1000’s of faux constructive opinions to bolster their false claims that properties listed on their Roomster platform are actual, accessible, and verified.” In addition they allege that Roomster would publish pretend listings on Craigslist to drive visitors to its platform, and cost anybody who inquired a payment for data on the listings that didn’t exist.
FTC and the states additionally filed a proposed order in opposition to Jonathan Martinez—who allegedly bought Roomster tens of 1000’s of faux opinions—requiring him to pay $100,000 and cooperate within the FTC’s case in opposition to Roomster. /3
— FTC (@FTC) August 30, 2022
The FTC alleges that their confederate on this scheme was Jonathan Martinez, who runs a web site known as AppWinn. The FTC accuses Roomster of asking Martinez for many five-star opinions, which he allegedly offered, utilizing greater than 2,500 iTunes accounts. Among the many emails from Roomster to Martinez talked about within the criticism, the FTC factors out one asking him to “make certain it’s all the time a random variety of opinions, so it appears extra pure,” which was apparently despatched after Roomster was notified of an FTC investigation.
Martinez signed a proposed settlement with the FTC saying that, along with his cooperation with the prosecutors, he would pay a $100,000 high quality that might go to the six states, ban him from promoting opinions and endorsements, notify each the Apple App Retailer and Google Play Retailer that Roomster paid him to publish these opinions, and determine the “pretend opinions and the approximate occasions they had been posted.”
“Though the Roomster Defendants declare that their Roomster platform gives ‘verified’ and ‘genuine’ dwelling association listings, in lots of cases it doesn’t,” the FTC and AGs write. “As a substitute the Roomster Defendants depend on pretend opinions (1000’s of which had been bought from Defendant Martinez alone) and faux listings to get shoppers to pay for entry to rental data that’s unverified and, in lots of cases, does that exist.”
Along with the false opinions, the criticism acknowledged that Roomster would label “verified listings” on its web site. In a single occasion, the FTC found in its investigation that “the corporate instantly accepted and revealed a pretend itemizing for a fictional condominium on the similar deal with as a U.S. Publish Workplace industrial facility.”
The FTC trying into Roomster as part of a crackdown on on-line platforms for deceptive shoppers on the Web. In January, the FTC fined online clothing retailer Fashion Nova $4.2 million for allegedly misrepresenting clients via opinions and endorsements. After imposing the high quality, Trend Nova didn’t affirm or deny the accusations.
