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• Pending Government Action:

  Government Action: BBB reports on known government actions involving business’ marketplace conduct:

  Commonwealth of Pennsylvania v. Alakazam Apps, LLC
  

  The following describes a pending government action that has been formally brought by a government agency but has not yet been resolved. We are providing a summary of the government's allegations, which have not yet been proven.

  
  

  On November 4, 2021, the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Bureau of Consumer Protection (BCP) announced the filing of a lawsuit against Credit Exterminators, Inc., Earn Finance Company, LLC, Alakazam Apps, LLC, its owners, and its operators for allegedly violating the Pennsylvania Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law. Specifically, the suit alleges these parties failed to deliver goods or services promised to consumers for which consumers contracted and paid, misled consumers concerning the nature and value of the goods and services it provided, failed to properly communicate with consumers, failed to provide refunds when appropriate, and failed to register fictitious names. 

  
  

  More specifically, Credit Exterminators/Earn Company allegedly sold credit repair services to consumers in violation of Pennsylvania’s Credit Services Act, did not perform certain credit repair services that it agreed to perform, and misrepresented to consumers that it had resolved delinquent accounts with creditors on their behalf. In some instances, consumers allegedly later learned that the delinquent accounts remained due to the creditors, refuting the information they were told. 

  
  

  The suit also alleges Alakazam represented to consumers that their deposit amount was for the creation of a mobile app; however, consumers allegedly received invoices crediting the deposits they paid toward the cost of a “business marketing manual” rather than the creation of a mobile app or payment of hosting fees. The lawsuit further alleges consumers who were invoiced for the manual were not seeking to purchase it and were not aware at the time of purchase that the firm would allocate their deposit payment toward this product. In some cases, consumers who allegedly paid monthly hosting fees never received a completed mobile app from the company, or received a mobile app that lacked functionality, or received a mobile app that did not meet the specifications as promised.

  
  

  As a result of the conduct described in the Complaint, the BCP seeks permanent injunctions to prohibit further violations, full restitution, costs of investigation, civil penalties, disgorgement from the company, and the individuals named in the suit.

  
  

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