Consumer Help

Special Alert

Consumers Beware—Fraudsters Seek Payment Using Gift Cards

A gift card is a great way to give and receive and most retailers offer them as a gift option. However, this is fast becoming the #1 imposter scam in the nation—more scammers are demanding payment with a gift card. The percentage of consumers who told the FTC they paid a scammer with a gift card has increased 270% since 2015! Please see the attached link from the FTC regarding this major concern and be certain you take caution if someone is asking you to pay using your gift card.
 
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ANA protects you by making sure that marketers use data responsibly for marketing purposes only. We are like the “cop on the beat.” If any marketer is not using data in an ethical manner, or sending you unwanted marketing offers, then we work within an ethics complaint process to get them into compliance or we will refer them to appropriate regulatory and consumer protection agencies to take swift action. Read more about it in this fact sheet or at DMAChoice.org. You can also download the ANA Annual Ethics Compliance Report and take a look at the ongoing list of non-compliant companies for more information on ANA’s enforcement activities.

Among other steps, we require our members to:

• Vigilantly protect the consumer data that they collect and use
• Provide notice and choice about what data is being collected, and why
• Offer consumers choices for unwanted marketing offers
• Follow the ANA Guidelines for Ethical Business Practices and set a high bar for responsible marketing that will earn your trust.

As a consumer, if you believe that a member of ANA has employed a questionable marketing promotion or  practice, please file an online complaint. Our committee will review your complaint and contact you if follow-up information is needed before referral of the case to the Committee on Ethical Business Practice.

If you seek to file a complaint about a marketing offer or fundraising solicitation, you may file a complaint by clicking here:

FILE A GENERAL ETHICS COMPLAINT

If you seek to file a complaint about an unwanted online ad that you believe has been served to you based on your browsing history then please first try to download the appropriate opt-out plug-in that applies to your computer or desktop browser (Chrome, Firefox or Internet Explorer) at: www.aboutads.info/PMC. OR Option Two: If you choose to opt-out without downloading the plug-in then please make sure your browser is set up to keep cookie history. If your cookies are deleted then it will also delete the opt-out cookie.

Steps to ensure your cookies are not deleted, for example:

1) Open Internet Explorer
2) Click on Tools then scroll to bottom of list and click on Internet Options
3) Under Browsing History, click on Delete button
4) Uncheck Cookies

It will not remove all online advertising just the ones served based on browsing history.

For interest-based ads that are served on your mobile devices, you can download the appropriate app at: http://www.aboutads.info/appchoices.

If you believe that the online interest-based ads that you are being served are based on browsing history and you are having problems opting-out of them, then please email back with a screen shot copy of the ad(s) and which site you saw them on and we can look into this further.

To file a complaint regarding Interest-Based Advertising on one device or browser, you can click here:

FILE AN INTEREST-BASED ADVERTISING (IBA) ETHICS COMPLAINT

To file a complaint regarding Interest-Based Advertising on multiple devices or browsers, you can click here:

FILE A CROSS-DEVICE INTEREST-BASED ADVERTISING (IBA) ETHICS COMPLAINT

Political ads should be transparent so that you are informed as to who sent it and so you can be in touch with the sender to alert them to any concerns you have. The Digital Advertising Alliance (DAA) created a Political Ad icon and principles regarding political ads. If you see the Political Icon then it should link to a clear, meaningful, and prominent disclosure provided by the political advertiser that includes:

• Name of the political advertiser;
• Phone number, physical address, web address, or alternative and reliable contact information for the political advertiser;
• Other information required by applicable federal or state law to be included in a disclaimer notice for the political advertiser;
• A link to a readily accessible, online, searchable government database of contributions and expenditures by the political advertiser, if the political advertiser is required to be registered with a federal or state agency that provides such a database or www.aboutpoliticalads.org;
• As permitted by applicable law, where a political advertisement is too small to include a disclaimer required by state or federal law, the political advertiser should provide such disclaimer in this notice; and
• The name(s) of the political advertiser’s CEO, a member of executive committee or board of directors, or treasurer.

To learn more about the Digital Advertising Alliance’s principles regarding transparency in online political ads or to access a U.S. state or territory’s election campaign database or election authority’s website where you can research registered political advertisers associated with an online political ad: click here.

If you believe the Political Ad you recently viewed did not provide such appropriate disclosures then you can fill-out and submit the online complaint form listed below. Please note that ANA has no role or jurisdiction regarding the content or placement of online political ads. Should you have such concerns, please contact the Federal Elections Commission: http://www.fec.gov/pages/brochures/complain.shtml or your Congressman or Senator.

File a Political Ad Transparency Complaint

You can have confidence that companies displaying the ANA Privacy Shield mark have fulfilled their requirements under these frameworks to subscribe to an independent third-party complaint resolution provider. Under these ANA Dispute Resolution Programs, European and Swiss data privacy complaints will be resolved in a timely and straightforward manner. The privacy principles of the Privacy Shield frameworks require that privacy complaints be initially addressed by the company’s customer service department or other in-house complaint program. If the individual’s complaint is not addressed to his/her satisfaction then the individual can turn to the appropriate independent dispute resolution service for additional assistance and resolution.

For EU Individuals to File a Data Privacy Complaint

For Swiss Individuals to File a Data Privacy Complaint