[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 148 (Thursday, August 1, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 46585-46587]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-18560]


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FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION


Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission for OMB 
Review; Comment Request

AGENCY: Federal Trade Commission (``Commission'' or ``FTC'').

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The FTC intends to conduct a preliminary and exploratory study 
on consumer susceptibility to fraudulent and deceptive marketing. This 
research will be conducted to further the FTC's mission of protecting 
consumers from unfair and deceptive practices. The information 
collection requirements described below are being submitted to the 
Office of Management and Budget (``OMB'') for review, as required by 
the Paperwork Reduction Act (``PRA'').

DATES: Comments must be submitted on or before September 3, 2013.

ADDRESSES: Interested parties may file a comment online or on paper, by 
following the instructions in the Request for Comment sub-part of the 
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section below. Write ``Fraud Susceptibility 
Internet Panel Study, FTC File No. P095500'' on your comment, and file 
your comment online at https://public.commentworks.com/ftc/fraudinternetpanelstudypra2, by

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following the instructions on the web-based form. If you prefer to file 
your comment on paper, mail or deliver your comment to the following 
address: Federal Trade Commission, Office of the Secretary, Room H-113 
(Annex J), 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20580.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Requests for additional information 
should be addressed to Keith B. Anderson, Economist, Bureau of 
Economics, Federal Trade Commission, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Mail 
Stop NJ-4136, Washington, DC 20580. Telephone: (202) 326-3428.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

    As part of its consumer protection mission, the FTC has brought 
hundreds of cases against consumer fraud and has committed significant 
resources to educating consumers to avoid such frauds. To ensure that 
its anti-fraud efforts are as effective as possible, the Commission 
seeks to better understand what makes some consumers more susceptible 
to becoming fraud victims. The Commission has conducted several 
previous studies that, in whole or in part, examined this issue.\1\ The 
current proposed study will add to this knowledge.
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    \1\ The Commission has conducted three surveys designed to 
estimate the prevalence of consumer fraud among U.S. adults. The 
most recent survey was conducted between November 2011 and February 
2012. A report describing the findings of that survey--Consumer 
Fraud in the United States, 2011: The Third FTC Survey--was released 
in April of this year and can be found at www.ftc.gov/os/2013/04/130419fraudsurvey.pdf. While the primary focus of these studies was 
measuring the extent of the problem of fraud, the surveys included 
questions designed to help address questions of whether consumers 
with certain characteristics were more likely to have been victims. 
In addition, the Commission conducted an exploratory experimental 
study in a university economics laboratory that was aimed at 
identifying consumer characteristics that were correlated with 
whether consumers found fraudulent and plausible advertisements to 
be credible--a possible precursor to falling victim to fraud. The 
results of that experiment are still being analyzed.
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    Understanding when and why people are vulnerable to fraud would 
better inform the FTC's ongoing efforts to fight fraud through law 
enforcement and consumer education. The study is not intended to lead 
to enforcement actions; rather, study results should help the 
Commission better target its enforcement actions and consumer education 
initiatives. Understanding why some consumers are more vulnerable to 
fraud may allow the Commission to improve its consumer education 
materials to address specific vulnerabilities, more efficiently target 
our education materials to particularly vulnerable populations, and 
adapt disclosures to address critical vulnerabilities that lead to 
fraud victimization.

II. Paperwork Reduction Act

    Under the PRA, 44 U.S.C. 3501-3521, federal agencies must get OMB 
approval for each collection of information they conduct or sponsor. 
``Collection of information'' means agency requests or requirements 
that members of the public submit reports, keep records, or provide 
information to a third party. 44 U.S.C. 3502(3), 5 CFR 1320.3(c).
    On June 11, 2009, the FTC sought public comment on the information 
collection requirements associated with the proposed study.\2\ No 
comments were received. Pursuant to the OMB regulations, 5 CFR Part 
1320, that implement the PRA, the Commission is providing this second 
opportunity for public comment.
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    \2\ 74 FR 27796 (June 11, 2009). While the Commission announced 
the instant study at the same time as the study that was conducted 
in the university economics laboratory (see supra note 1), as the 
studies were further developed, FTC staff concluded that it would be 
better to wait until the laboratory experiment was largely completed 
before moving forward with the current study. Similarly, staff 
decided to wait for the completion of the most recent fraud survey. 
As discussed above, that survey has now been completed and the 
results published. The analysis of the results of the laboratory 
experiment is largely complete and the findings are being prepared 
for publication.
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    As required by section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the PRA, the FTC is 
providing this opportunity for public comment while pursuing OMB 
approval for the study.

A. Description of the Collection of Information and Proposed Use

    The FTC proposes to use a private survey firm's panel of consumers 
who have agreed to complete online surveys and will obtain responses 
from 5,000 members of the contractor's panel. The proposed study is a 
limited but focused exploration of the determinants of fraud 
susceptibility. The study focuses on individual traits and behaviors 
that may contribute to fraud susceptibility. Given the convenience 
sample, we do not intend to make population-wide projections from our 
results. Further, the study is intended to focus on individuals' traits 
and not on the characteristics of advertisements that contribute to 
fraud susceptibility.
    Participants in the study will first be shown two advertisements 
and will be asked to evaluate the credibility of the ads. Participants 
will also be asked to indicate how likely they would be to purchase the 
product if it was a real product and how likely they would be to 
recommend the product to friends. Understanding the variation in 
participants' responses to these questions will be the key focus of the 
analysis in the study.
    The two ads shown to each participant will be drawn from a set of 
six ads. The ads will be for three types of products or services--a 
diet product or plan, a job offer, and a vacation. For each of the 
three products, there will be two ads--one that contains claims that 
are implausible and likely fraudulent, and one that contains only 
plausible claims. Participants will be shown advertisements for two of 
the three products. The advertisement for one of the products shown to 
each participant will be a fraudulent version; the other may be either 
fraudulent or plausible.
    Participants will also be asked questions designed to learn whether 
they have been a victim of weight-loss, business-opportunity, or work-
at-home frauds. These types of fraud are obviously related to the 
advertisements participants will have evaluated--specifically, the 
weight-loss and job ads. The responses to these questions can serve 
both as the focus of an alternative analysis and also to see whether 
those who find the fraudulent ads to be more credible are more likely 
to have been victimized in the past.
    The survey will also collect information on the participant's 
personal characteristics and behavior. Responses to these questions 
will be examined to see whether they are correlated with the ad 
credibility ratings. These variables will include, for example, whether 
the person is impulsive or willing to wait, and whether the person is 
willing to take risks. Questions designed to measure how skeptical a 
person is of claims made in advertisements, both generally and in 
specific settings, and the participant's knowledge of how markets 
work--consumer literacy--are also included. Participants will also be 
asked questions designed to provide some information on how interested 
the person would be in the products that are the subject of the ads 
presented in the first section of the study. The study also asks for 
demographic information.

B. Estimated Burden Hours

    The FTC plans to seek information from 100 participants in the pre-
test phase and 5,000 participants in the final data collection phase. 
For those who participate in the final data collection phase, the time 
to complete the survey is estimated at 30 minutes. An additional 5 
minutes may be needed to complete the pre-test version. Thus, the 
overall burden for this study will be approximately 2,558 hours--2,500 
hours for the 5,000 who participate in

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the final data collection and 58 hours for the 100 who participate in 
the pre-test.

C. Estimated Costs

    The cost per respondent should be negligible. Participation is 
voluntary, and will not require any labor expenditures by respondents. 
There are no capital, start up, operation, maintenance, or other 
similar costs to the respondents.

D. Request for Comment

    You can file a comment online or on paper. For the Commission to 
consider your comment, we must receive it on or before September 3, 
2013. Write ``Fraud Susceptibility Internet Panel Study, FTC File No. 
P095500'' on your comment. Your comment--including your name and your 
state--will be placed on the public record of this proceeding, 
including, to the extent practicable, on the public Commission Web 
site, at http://www.ftc.gov/os/publiccomments.shtm. As a matter of 
discretion, the Commission tries to remove individuals' home contact 
information from comments before placing them on the Commission Web 
site.
    Because your comment will be made public, you are solely 
responsible for making sure that your comment does not include any 
sensitive personal information, like anyone's Social Security number, 
date of birth, driver's license number or other state identification 
number or foreign country equivalent, passport number, financial 
account number, or credit or debit card number. You are also solely 
responsible for making sure that your comment does not include any 
sensitive health information, like medical records or other 
individually identifiable health information. In addition, do not 
include any ``[t]rade secret or any commercial or financial information 
which is obtained from any person and which is privileged or 
confidential,'' as provided in Section 6(f) of the FTC Act, 15 U.S.C. 
46(f), and FTC Rule 4.10(a)(2), 16 CFR 4.10(a)(2). In particular, do 
not include competitively sensitive information such as costs, sales 
statistics, inventories, formulas, patterns, devices, manufacturing 
processes, or customer names.
    If you want the Commission to give your comment confidential 
treatment, you must file it in paper form, with a request for 
confidential treatment, and you have to follow the procedure explained 
in FTC Rule 4.9(c), 16 CFR 4.9(c).\3\ Your comment will be kept 
confidential only if the FTC General Counsel, in his or her sole 
discretion, grants your request in accordance with the law and the 
public interest.
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    \3\ In particular, the written request for confidential 
treatment that accompanies the comment must include the factual and 
legal basis for the request, and must identify the specific portions 
of the comment to be withheld from the public record. See FTC Rule 
4.9(c), 16 CFR 4.9(c).
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    Postal mail addressed to the Commission is subject to delay due to 
heightened security screening. As a result, we encourage you to submit 
your comments online. To make sure that the Commission considers your 
online comment, you must file it at https://public.commentworks.com/ftc/fraudinternetpanelstudypra2, by following the instructions on the 
web-based form. If this Notice appears at http://www.regulations.gov/#!home, you also may file a comment through that Web site.
    If you file your comment on paper, write ``Fraud Susceptibility 
Internet Panel Study, FTC File No. P095500'' on your comment and on the 
envelope, and mail or deliver it to the following address: Federal 
Trade Commission, Office of the Secretary, Room H-113 (Annex J), 600 
Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20580. If possible, submit your 
paper comment to the Commission by courier or overnight service.
    Visit the Commission Web site at http://www.ftc.gov to read this 
Notice and the news release describing it. The FTC Act and other laws 
that the Commission administers permit the collection of public 
comments to consider and use in this proceeding as appropriate. The 
Commission will consider all timely and responsive public comments that 
it receives on or before September 3, 2013. You can find more 
information, including routine uses permitted by the Privacy Act, in 
the Commission's privacy policy, at http://www.ftc.gov/ftc/privacy.htm.
    The FTC invites comments on: (1) Whether the proposed collection of 
information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of 
the agency, including whether the information will have practical 
utility; (2) the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of the 
proposed collection of information, including the validity of the 
methodology and assumptions used; (3) ways to enhance the quality, 
utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and (4) ways 
to minimize the burden of the collection of information.
    Comments on the information collection requirements subject to 
review under the PRA should additionally be submitted to OMB. If sent 
by U.S. mail, they should be addressed to Office of Information and 
Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget, Attention: Desk 
Officer for the Federal Trade Commission, New Executive Office 
Building, Docket Library, Room 10102, 725 17th Street NW., Washington, 
DC 20503. Comments sent to OMB by U.S. postal mail, however, are 
subject to delays due to heightened security precautions. Thus, 
comments instead should be sent by facsimile to (202) 395-5167.

David C. Shonka,
Principal Deputy General Counsel.
[FR Doc. 2013-18560 Filed 7-31-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6750-01-P