Over 37 Million People May Be Eligible for Refunds Following Epic Games' Settlement with the FTC

The US Federal Trade Commission has begun notifying over 37 million individuals that they may be entitled to compensation as part of Epic Games' settlement. In 2022, Epic Games was fined $520 million by the FTC, with $275 million allocated for violating the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act and $245 million for deceiving users into making unintentional purchases of virtual currencies and in-game items. The latter amount will be used to compensate customers who were affected by unauthorized in-game purchases. To be eligible for a refund, users must have been charged for unwanted in-game items between January 2017 and September 2022, had a child make unauthorized charges to a credit card between January 2017 and November 2018, or been locked out of their Epic account after disputing wrongful charges with their credit card company. Claimants can apply for a refund on the FTC's website using their claim number or Epic Account ID, with a deadline of January 17, 2024. The FTC has assured that approved claims will not affect Fortnite accounts or result in lost items. The refund amount will be determined by several factors, including the number of claims submitted. Epic Games has stated that it is committed to prioritizing consumer protection and providing the best experience for its players, and has been making changes to its ecosystem to meet the expectations of players and regulators.