Penalty Amount
$750,000
The FTC finalized a settlement with Vanilla Chip LLC (doing business as TruHeight) and its principals over allegations that they deceptively advertised height-enhancing supplements for children and teenagers without competent and reliable scientific evidence. The FTC also alleged that TruHeight used fake social media bot profiles and relied on reviews written by employees, vendors, or consumers who received free products or discounts for 5-star reviews. Under the final order, TruHeight must pay $750,000 and is barred from making unsupported health claims or misrepresenting reviews.
TruHeight and its principals are subject to a $4 million judgment, partially suspended after payment of $750,000 based on inability to pay. The order prohibits false or unsubstantiated height and growth claims, unsubstantiated health benefit claims, misrepresentations about reviewers or their experiences, and buying consumer reviews conditioned on a particular sentiment.
In-house legal teams should review marketing, influencer, and vendor agreements to ensure they require compliance with FTC advertising and endorsement guidelines. Contracts should include substantiation requirements for any health or growth claims, clear disclosure obligations for material connections between reviewers and the company, and prohibitions against employees, vendors, or incentivized consumers writing reviews without disclosing their relationship. Companies should also audit customer review management policies to prevent conditioned review sentiment, review platform terms to ensure authenticity, and add audit rights, monitoring, and indemnification clauses to enforce these requirements.
Entity
Vanilla Chip LLC
Industry
HealthcareOfficial Press Release
https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2026/07/ftc-approves-final-order-against-truheight-deceptive-unsubstantiated-advertising-supplements-kids
2423093truheightfinalorder
https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/ftc_gov/pdf/2423093truheightfinalorder.pdf
Federal Trade Commission Enforcement Page
https://www.ftc.gov/enforcement
"Vanilla Chip LLC—which does business as TruHeight—and its two principals"
"requiring them to pay $750,000"
"The Federal Trade Commission finalized an order with Vanilla Chip LLC—which does business as TruHeight—and its two principals requiring them to pay $750,000"
"deceptively advertised the effectiveness of a range of supplements that claim to boost height growth in children and teenagers"
"relied on reviews that were written by their own employees and vendors, or by consumers who were offered a free product or discount in return for writing a 5-star review"
"barring them from making false or unsupported health claims and using fake or incentivized consumer reviews"
$750K
The FTC alleged that Vanilla Chip LLC (d/b/a TruHeight) deceptively advertised height-enhancing supplements for children and teens without competent scientific evidence, and used fake employee-written and incentivized 5-star reviews. The proposed settlement requires TruHeight and its principals to pay $750,000, bars false health claims, and prohibits misleading review practices. A $4 million total judgment is partially suspended due to the respondents' inability to pay the full amount.
$12.0M
The FTC alleged that payment processor Humboldt Merchant Services knowingly processed payments for more than 1,000 shell merchant entities serving as fronts for fraudulent companies engaged in unauthorized billing scams, despite red flags including chargeback rates nearly 10 times higher than card-brand thresholds. Under the proposed stipulated order filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, Humboldt will pay $12 million for consumer redress and is permanently banned from processing payments for merchants with a heightened risk of potential fraud.
$4.8M
The FTC charged Canada-based payment processor Nuvei Corporation and its subsidiaries with knowingly processing payments for fraudulent merchants, including more than $30 million in payments for the Reimage tech support scam from 2017 to 2023, as well as merchants making false earnings claims and impersonating government tax authorities. Under the stipulated order filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona, Nuvei will pay $4.85 million for consumer redress, is banned from serving tech support telemarketers, and must implement robust merchant screening and chargeback monitoring practices. Note: this is a payments-fraud facilitation action under the FTC Act and Telemarketing Sales Rule, not a data privacy violation.
The FTC announced a seven-day extension of the public comment period on its proposed enforcement policy statement regarding personalized pricing, pushing the deadline from Sept. 18, 2026 to Sept. 25, 2026. Personalized pricing refers to using personal data to set prices based on what the company believes an individual consumer is willing to spend. This is a procedural announcement about draft agency guidance, not an enforcement action against any company, and no entity was named, no violation found, and no penalty imposed.
Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser joined the FTC and 22 state attorneys general in filing a lawsuit against Amazon for manipulating the auctions used to set advertising prices, replacing actual auction results with higher prices since 2019 and overcharging nearly 1.2 million U.S. advertising customers. The FTC estimates total improper surcharges from 2018 to 2026 exceed $20 billion, with costs ultimately passed to shoppers through higher prices. The states seek a permanent injunction and monetary relief; no penalty has been imposed yet as this is a newly filed complaint.
$930K
The FTC finalized orders requiring CMG Media Corporation (doing business as Cox Media Group), MindSift LLC, and 1010 Digital Works LLC to pay a total of $930,000 for falsely claiming they offered an AI-powered service that could target ads based on conversations captured from consumers' smart devices, and that consumers had opted into such targeting. The orders also prohibit the companies from making misrepresentations about their advertising services, voice data collection, and consumer consent.