(Credit: Ring)
The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is sending approximately $5.6 million in refunds to some Ring camera buyers following a privacy-related investigation that concluded last year. The money will be distributed via PayPal to 117,000+ people who had Ring accounts before Feb. 1, 2018.
The FTC sued Ring last year, alleging that a "lack of digital security" in Ring cameras allowed hackers and stalkers to exploit its cameras. The agency further claimed that every Ring employee and contractor had full access to view and download all customer video data before 2017, posing obvious user security and privacy concerns.
The FTC alleged that one Ring employee repeatedly searched for "Master Bedroom" and "Master Bathroom" to view thousands of recordings of 81 different female Ring camera users, often watching the women for more than an hour a day.
Ring didn't train its employees on how to handle user data, according to the complaint, and didn't catch this behavior until another employee found the spying staff member and reported them to management. The manager initially doubted the spying claims, but eventually took them seriously after supposedly realizing that the male employee was only viewing footage of "pretty girls," the lawsuit states.
Ring has denied violating the law and disagreed with the complaint's allegations, but agreed to the settlement. The company, which Amazon bought in 2018, previously claimed the FTC's lawsuit "mischaracterizes our security practices" and "ignores the many protections we have in place for our customers."
The FTC has already sent emails to all eligible refund recipients from the address subscribe@subscribe.ftc.gov, The New York Times reports. The refunds were sent out on Tuesday, and Ring customers have until May 22 this year to claim these PayPal payments before they're sent back to the FTC.
Scammers sometimes impersonate companies and refund claims like this. However, you can call Rust Consulting, which is handling the refunds and whose phone number is listed on the FTC's announcement, to verify any emails or correspondence in question. The FTC will never ask you to pay money or provide account information to receive a refund; always be wary of anyone who asks for your account login details or password. It's also a good rule of thumb to avoid clicking on links in emails. Instead, type PayPal.com into your web browser directly to log into your account.