The Federal Trade Commission is distributing more than $15.8 million in refund payments to customers of the AI-based cash advance app Cleo AI.
The agency announced the payments following a settlement reached earlier this year over allegations that Cleo misled its users about the nature of its cash advance services.
More than 2.1 million Cleo AI customers are expected to receive payments as part of the distribution effort now underway.
The FTC alleged in a complaint that Cleo misled customers about how quickly they could access cash advances and how much money they would actually receive.
According to the agency, Cleo suggested customers could have “access to ‘hundreds of dollars’ in cash advances when almost no one received even close to the advertised amounts.”
The company was also accused of charging hidden fees for same-day or instant cash advances, with funds often not arriving until the following day.
Cleo additionally faced allegations of making it difficult for users to cancel their subscriptions, a practice the FTC described as a hard-to-cancel subscription model.
In March, Cleo agreed to pay $17 million to settle the allegations brought against it by the Commission.
Eligible users who paid for eligible instant cash advances should expect to receive an email from [email protected], with PayPal payments expected to follow starting on October 27.
The FTC cautions that recipients should redeem any payment within 30 days of receiving it to ensure they collect their refund.
The Commission also stressed that it never requires people to pay money or provide account information in order to receive a refund payment.
Consumers with questions about their payment should contact the refund administrator, Rust Consulting Inc., at 877-788-4958 for assistance.
