The Consumer Protection Division took on a travel company that left thousands stranded without travel arrangements.

Attorney General Ashley Moody announced Tuesday Florida has recovered more than $11 million lost by consumers in pandemic-related fraud, scams and cancellations.

Moody said her Consumer Protection Division is spearheading the ongoing recovery effort. To date, the division has addressed thousands of consumer complaints including reports of price gouging and wrongful cancellations, among others.

“We have secured millions of dollars in relief for consumers nationwide following reports to my office about cancellations, purchases and scams related to the COVID-19 pandemic,” Moody said. “My Rapid Response Team worked with a sense of urgency to quickly address reports of price gouging and other unfair trade practices in real time to reduce harm to consumers and increase awareness about potential price gouging and other financial matters arising from the pandemic.” Continue reading →

Along with the Florida Retail Federation and law enforcement leaders, I announced the launch of Florida’s first statewide task force to combat large-scale retail theft, as well as a new tool designed to help better coordinate prevention and prosecutorial efforts.

The new tool called FORCE, or Florida Organized Retail Crime Exchange, is an interactive database that will help law enforcement and retailers spot trends, identify suspects and take down massive, organized retail theft rings.

Videos from major cities across the country show mobs of criminals ransacking department stores—burglars smashing display cases and running away with ill-gotten gains.

A recent study by the National Retail Federation showed that nearly 70% of store owners nationwide reported an increase in crime over the past year—most alarmingly, retailers report gangs are more aggressive and violent than in years past. About 65% of respondents noted an increase in violence. Continue reading →

Dear Friends,

It’s a great day to live in the Free State of Florida! As of this writing, we have just concluded the 2021 Special Session to combat the federal government’s unconstitutional vaccine mandates and it is a pleasure to bring you a brief report on all that we accomplished.

In October, Governor Ron DeSantis called for a special session to provide protections for Floridians who have lost their jobs or are having their employment threatened due to vaccine mandates. In response to that call, the Florida Legislature promptly drafted four bills for consideration. All four have passed through the legislature and were signed by the Governor in Brandon, FL with legislative leaders by his side. Continue reading →

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – In yet another victory for parents’ rights, the Florida Division of Administrative Hearings dismissed a case filed by six school districts who have disregarded the will of parents to make decisions for their children. In a landmark case, the Administrative Law Judge ruled that the Florida Department of Health had the legal authority to issue Emergency Rule 64DER21-15, which empowers parents to decide if their children should wear masks at school and ensures healthy students can remain in school.

“There is no strong evidence of health benefits for children as a result of mask mandates in schools. The rights of parents continue to be protected in Florida, as we can see by this tremendous decision,” said State Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo. “Florida will not make decisions out of fear, but rather out of close analysis of the data.”

“When you break the law there are consequences,” said Commissioner Richard Corcoran. “If these districts continue to break the law, we plan to fully hold them accountable.” Continue reading →

Florida’s annual legislative session doesn’t begin until January, but the state’s lawmakers are returning to Tallahassee on Monday to vote on several bills dealing with mask and COVID-19 vaccine mandates.

This has much to do with Gov. Ron DeSantis, who spent the summer railing against mask and vaccine mandates. After his anti-vaccine “passport” bill he signed in May proved ineffective at stopping companies from requiring employees be vaccinated, he hinted for months that he would call lawmakers back to Tallahassee for a second crack at it.

There was just one problem with DeSantis’ plan: Lawmakers were not eager to return to Tallahassee to revisit legislation they passed just a few months ago. Nor were they eager to impose more mandates on companies — their campaign donors.

That conflict was obvious when DeSantis and lawmakers met last Monday for this special session. Continue reading →

18 consecutive months of job growth, 12 consecutive months of labor force increases 

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Today, Governor Ron DeSantis announced that Florida continues to make economic progress with more job growth, labor force increases, and a decline in the unemployment rate. The steady economic growth that Florida is witnessing is thanks to successful policies that put Floridians and businesses first. Florida’s economy continued to thrive in October 2021, with 18 consecutive months of private-sector job growth, adding 44,300 jobs over the month and increasing by 5.7% over the year. Florida has also experienced 12 consecutive months of labor force increases with a growth of 29,000 over the month. Florida’s labor force growth represents a 5.8% increase over the year, which is significantly higher than the national rate of 0.5%. Florida’s unemployment rate, currently at 4.6%, also decreased by 0.2 percentage points from the revised September 2021 rate of 4.8%. Continue reading →

Florida brings legal action against the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s Emergency Temporary Standard

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Governor Ron DeSantis announced a lawsuit against the Biden Administration’s unconstitutional Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) employer vaccine mandate. As soon as the unlawful emergency temporary standard (ETS) is published in the Federal Register tomorrow, the lawsuit will be immediately filed with the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.

“We started with 15 days to slow the spread and now it’s get jabbed or lose your job,” said Governor Ron DeSantis. “We’re supposed to be a government of laws, not a government of men. This OSHA rule is 500 pages of a government of bureaucracy, a government that is being run by executive edict, not a government bound by constitutional constraints. The State of Florida will immediately challenge the OSHA rule in court because it’s inconsistent with the Constitution and not legally authorized through Congressional statutes. There is no federal police power and the federal government cannot unilaterally impose medical policy under the guise of workplace regulation. Individuals should make informed choices about their own healthcare. It is important to stand up for people’s individual ability to make decisions for themselves. And the practical result is that this is going to exacerbate a lot of the existing problems that we are seeing with the economy.” Continue reading →

TALLAHASSEE, Fla.—Attorney General Ashley Moody is leading a nationwide investigation into Meta Platforms, Inc., formerly known as Facebook, for conduct relating to use of its social media platform Instagram by children and young adults. Attorneys General across the country are examining whether the company violated state consumer protection laws and put the public at risk by carelessly promoting the platform to younger users.

Attorney General Ashley Moody said, “We have serious concerns about how social media is impacting the lives of young people in this country, and as a mother, I want to know how Facebook/Meta is targeting youth and what strategies this Big Tech giant is using to entice children and teens to lengthen engagement on its platforms. I am proud to lead these efforts with our partner states to find out if Meta violated any consumer protection laws and put our children at risk.” Continue reading →

It’s International Fraud Awareness Week and one of the best ways to fight fraud is to empower consumers with information and resources to spot and avoid scams. Fraudsters work day and night to trick consumers into parting with their hard-earned money.

The Association of Certified Fraud Examiners estimates that businesses worldwide lose 5% of revenue each year to fraud, totaling more than $4.5 trillion lost annually. In the United States, the Federal Trade Commission received more than 2.1 million fraud reports from consumers last year, with reported consumer-related losses adding up to more than $3.3 billion.

It’s so important to stay ahead of the latest trends and take steps to avoid falling prey to fraud. To guard against common fraud schemes: Continue reading →

TALLAHASSEE, Fla.—Attorney General Ashley Moody is leading efforts to garner support for the Federal Communications Commission’s continued attempts to fight illegal robocalls. Scammers are finding ways to circumvent previously implemented anti-robocall technology to continue bombarding citizens with scam messages.

Attorney General Ashley Moody said, “Working with the FCC, we have been successful in reducing the number of scam robocalls targeting Americans. Unfortunately, in recent months, scammers have found ways to circumvent the technology created to protect our citizens from fraudulent robocall messages. Today, I asked the FCC to continue its efforts to reduce the number of calls by implementing stricter processes on companies that assign and distribute telephone numbers.”

Earlier this year, following efforts by Attorney General Moody and other attorneys general, phone companies were required to implement a technology program called STIR/SHAKEN. This technology checks to see if a phone call comes from a legitimate source before the designated phone begins to ring. Since the FCC required large phone companies to begin using this technology in June, scam robocalls have dropped nearly 30%. Continue reading →