All Cases

Every case documented on The Consumer Story — searchable and filterable by category and status.

Showing 47 of 47 cases
Real Estate FraudOrder Issued

Amrapali Group: 42,000 Homebuyers Cheated of Rs 3,000+ Crore

Real estate giant Amrapali collected thousands of crores from homebuyers but diverted funds to shell companies, leaving 42,000 families without homes they had paid for.

2019Amrapali Group
Rs 3,000+ Crore
Ed-Tech FraudOngoing

BYJU'S Refuses Refunds to Thousands of Parents, Faces Consumer Court Orders

India's largest ed-tech company aggressively sold expensive courses to low-income families, refused refunds, and used predatory lending practices through partner NBFCs.

2021-2024BYJU'S (Think & Learn)
Real Estate FraudOrder Issued

Unitech Directors Jailed for Cheating 30,000 Homebuyers

Real estate developer Unitech collected money from 30,000+ homebuyers for apartments across multiple projects but failed to deliver, diverting funds to other businesses.

2017-2020Unitech Limited
Rs 2,000+ Crore
Real Estate / Unfair ContractsOrder Issued

DLF Penalized Rs 630 Crore for Abuse of Dominant Position Against Homebuyers

India's largest real estate developer DLF was penalized Rs 630 crore by the Competition Commission for abuse of dominant position and ordered by NCDRC to compensate buyers for unfair one-sided contract terms.

2011-2016DLF Limited
Rs 630 Crore (CCI penalty)
Real Estate FraudOngoing

Jaypee Infratech Leaves 20,000+ Homebuyers Stranded, Enters Insolvency

Jaypee Infratech collected money from over 20,000 homebuyers for its Wish Town project in Noida but failed to deliver for years, forcing Supreme Court intervention and insolvency proceedings.

2017-2024Jaypee Infratech (Jaiprakash Associates)
Rs 2,000+ Crore
Wrongful Prosecution / IT FraudOngoing

Post Office Horizon Scandal: Hundreds of Innocent Sub-postmasters Wrongly Convicted

Over 900 sub-postmasters were wrongly prosecuted based on a faulty Fujitsu IT system, with many imprisoned, bankrupted, and some taking their own lives — the UK's worst miscarriage of justice.

1999-2024Post Office Ltd / Fujitsu
£1+ Billion (compensation ongoing)
Banking / Insurance FraudCompleted

UK Banks Forced to Pay £38 Billion for PPI Mis-selling — Largest Consumer Scandal in UK History

UK banks mis-sold Payment Protection Insurance to millions of customers who didn't need it, couldn't use it, or didn't know they had it — resulting in £38 billion in compensation.

2011-2019Lloyds, Barclays, RBS, HSBC, and others
£38 Billion
Banking FraudSettled

Wells Fargo Opens 3.5 Million Fake Accounts Without Customer Consent

Wells Fargo employees opened approximately 3.5 million unauthorized bank and credit card accounts in customers' names to meet aggressive sales targets, charging fees on accounts customers never requested.

2016-2022Wells Fargo
$3.7 Billion
Consumer & Environmental FraudCompleted

Volkswagen's $30 Billion Emissions Fraud: Dieselgate Scandal

Volkswagen installed 'defeat devices' in 11 million diesel vehicles worldwide that cheated emissions tests while emitting up to 40x legal pollution limits during normal driving.

2015-2017Volkswagen
$30+ Billion
Crypto/Fintech FraudConvicted

FTX Founder Sentenced to 25 Years for $8 Billion Crypto Fraud

FTX, one of the world's largest crypto exchanges, collapsed after an estimated $8 billion in customer funds were secretly funneled to founder Sam Bankman-Fried's hedge fund Alameda Research.

2022-2024FTX
$8 Billion
Ed-Tech FraudOngoing

WhiteHat Jr Sued for Fake Success Stories and Misleading Advertisements

WhiteHat Jr used fabricated success stories of child prodigies and fake advertisements to sell expensive coding courses to parents of young children.

2020-2022WhiteHat Jr (BYJU'S subsidiary)
Rs 20 Crore+ (defamation suit filed against critic)
Insurance FraudOngoing

Insurance Companies Ordered to Pay Lakhs for Wrongful Claim Denials

Insurance companies across India systematically deny legitimate health and life insurance claims using technical loopholes, forcing families to fight in consumer courts.

2018-2024Various Insurance Companies
Multiple Orders (Rs 5-50 Lakhs)
E-Commerce FraudOngoing

Consumer Courts Order Flipkart to Compensate for Delivering Fake and Wrong Products

Flipkart has faced numerous consumer court orders for delivering fake products, wrong items, and refusing refunds, with consumers receiving soap bars instead of phones.

2019-2024Flipkart
Banking / Data PrivacyCompleted

Airtel Payments Bank Suspended for Opening Accounts Without Customer Consent Using Aadhaar

Airtel Payments Bank was found to have opened bank accounts for millions of users without explicit consent using their Aadhaar details, and diverted LPG subsidies into these unauthorized accounts.

2017-2018Airtel / Airtel Payments Bank
E-Commerce FraudOngoing

Amazon India Held Liable for Counterfeit Products Sold by Marketplace Sellers

Consumer courts rejected Amazon's defense that it is 'just a marketplace' and held it liable for counterfeit and wrong products delivered to consumers by sellers on its platform.

2019-2024Amazon India
TravelOrder Issued

MakeMyTrip Ordered to Refund Customers After Withholding COVID Cancellation Refunds

MakeMyTrip withheld refunds for COVID-cancelled bookings, offered only credits/vouchers, and charged cancellation fees for flights cancelled by airlines — not by consumers.

2020-2022MakeMyTrip
Travel / HospitalityOngoing

OYO Rooms Faces Consumer Court Orders for Cancelled Bookings and Misleading Listings

Budget hotel aggregator OYO has faced numerous consumer cases for last-minute booking cancellations, rooms not matching descriptions, refund denials, and misleading pricing.

2019-2024OYO Rooms
Ride-hailing / OverchargingOngoing

Consumer Courts Order Ola and Uber to Compensate for Surge Pricing Exploitation

Multiple consumer courts ordered Ola and Uber to compensate riders for excessive surge pricing, ride cancellations, and overcharging through opaque pricing algorithms.

2016-2023Ola / Uber India
Data PrivacySettled

Facebook Hit With Record $5 Billion Fine Over Cambridge Analytica Privacy Breach

Facebook violated a 2012 consent decree by allowing Cambridge Analytica to harvest data of 87 million users without consent, resulting in the largest privacy fine in FTC history.

2019Facebook (Meta)
$5 Billion
Data BreachSettled

Equifax Data Breach Exposes 147 Million Americans' Personal Information

Equifax failed to patch a known security vulnerability, leading to a massive data breach exposing Social Security numbers, birth dates, and addresses of 147 million Americans.

2017-2019Equifax
$700 Million
Children's Privacy / Dark PatternsSettled

Epic Games Fined $520 Million for Tricking Children Into Purchases

Epic Games used dark patterns to trick Fortnite players, including children, into making unwanted purchases and violated children's privacy laws (COPPA).

2022Epic Games
$520 Million
Auto Finance FraudOngoing

UK Car Finance Mis-selling Scandal: £300 Million and Counting

The UK Court of Appeal ruled that car dealers received secret commissions from finance companies, potentially affecting millions of car buyers and creating liability of up to £30 billion.

2024-2025Close Brothers, FirstRand (MotoNovo), and others
£300 Million+ (potentially billions)
Energy / UtilitiesCompleted

29 UK Energy Suppliers Collapse, Leaving Millions of Customers in Chaos

29 energy suppliers collapsed during the 2021-2022 energy crisis after Ofgem's lax regulation allowed undercapitalized companies to operate, with the £2.7 billion bailout cost passed to all energy bill-payers.

2021-2022Bulb, Avro Energy, Green Supplier, and 26 others
£2.7 Billion (cost to bill-payers)
Telecom OverchargingOngoing

Telecom Companies Ordered to Refund for Unauthorized VAS Charges and Data Deductions

Indian telecom companies have been repeatedly ordered to refund customers for unauthorized value-added service (VAS) charges, data deductions, and misleading plan descriptions.

2017-2024Jio, Airtel, Vodafone-Idea
Food DeliveryOngoing

Consumer Court Orders Zomato to Pay for Delivering Contaminated and Wrong Food Orders

Food delivery giant Zomato has faced consumer court orders for delivering contaminated food, wrong orders, and refusing compensation when customers fell ill.

2020-2024Zomato
Banking / Hidden ChargesOngoing

Banks Ordered to Refund Unauthorized Charges: SMS Fees, Minimum Balance Penalties

Indian banks have been ordered by consumer courts to refund unauthorized charges including minimum balance penalties, SMS alert fees, and account maintenance charges imposed without clear consent.

2017-2024Various Indian Banks (SBI, HDFC, ICICI, etc.)
AirlinesOrder Issued

Air India Ordered to Pay Rs 1 Lakh for Denied Boarding and Rude Behavior

Air India faced multiple consumer court orders for denied boarding, flight cancellations without notice, lost luggage, and rude behavior toward passengers.

2019-2023Air India
Rs 1 Lakh+ (multiple cases)
Predatory LendingCompleted

Wonga Collapses After £220 Million Compensation Bill for Predatory Payday Loans

Payday lender Wonga collapsed after being forced to pay £220 million in compensation for lending to people who could never afford to repay, charging interest rates of up to 5,853% APR.

2014-2018Wonga
£220 Million
Energy / UtilitiesSettled

British Gas Fined for Overcharging Vulnerable Customers on Prepayment Meters

British Gas was fined after its debt collection agents forcibly installed prepayment meters in the homes of vulnerable customers, including elderly and disabled people, during a cost-of-living crisis.

2023British Gas (Centrica)
£9.5 Million
Predatory LendingSettled

Navient's $1.85 Billion Settlement for Student Loan Servicing Abuse

Navient steered struggling student loan borrowers into costly forbearance instead of affordable repayment plans, causing them to pay far more than necessary.

2022Navient
$1.85 Billion
Data PrivacySettled

Google Pays $391.5 Million for Secretly Tracking Users' Locations

Google continued tracking users' locations even after they turned off 'Location History,' because a separate hidden setting still collected the data.

2022Google
$391.5 Million
AirlinesSettled

Southwest Airlines Hit With Record $140 Million Penalty for Holiday Meltdown

Southwest's catastrophic operational failure during December 2022 stranded 2 million passengers with 17,000 canceled flights, earning the largest airline penalty in DOT history.

2022-2023Southwest Airlines
$140 Million + $600 Million refunds
Banking FraudConvicted

HBOS Bankers Jailed for Pushing Small Businesses Into Ruin to Strip Their Assets

A fraud ring within HBOS deliberately pushed small business customers into financial distress, then steered them to a corrupt consultancy that stripped their assets. Six people were jailed for a combined 47 years.

2003-2017HBOS (Lloyds Banking Group)
£100+ Million
Subscription TrapsPending

FTC Sues Amazon Over Prime Subscription Dark Patterns

The FTC sued Amazon alleging it used manipulative design to enroll consumers into Prime subscriptions without clear consent and made cancellation intentionally difficult.

2023Amazon
Subscription TrapsSettled

Vonage Ordered to Pay $100 Million for Trapping Customers in Subscriptions

Vonage made it extremely difficult for customers to cancel service, charged hidden fees, and continued billing customers after they attempted to cancel.

2022Vonage
$100 Million
Robocalls / Do Not Call ViolationsCompleted

Dish Network Fined $280 Million for Millions of Illegal Robocalls

Dish Network and its telemarketers made millions of illegal robocalls to numbers on the Do Not Call Registry to sell satellite TV subscriptions.

2017Dish Network
$280 Million
Product DefectSettled

Kia and Hyundai Pay $200 Million for Cars That Could Be Stolen With a USB Cable

9 million Kia and Hyundai vehicles lacked basic anti-theft technology, leading to a viral theft trend and skyrocketing car thefts nationwide.

2022-2024Kia / Hyundai
$200 Million
Data BreachSettled

T-Mobile Hit With $350 Million Settlement After Exposing 76 Million Customers' Data

A series of massive data breaches at T-Mobile exposed names, Social Security numbers, and driver's license information of over 76 million customers.

2021-2024T-Mobile
$350+ Million
Utilities / EnvironmentalOngoing

Thames Water Fined for Dumping Raw Sewage While Paying Billions in Dividends

Thames Water has been repeatedly fined for illegally dumping raw sewage into rivers and waterways while paying billions in dividends to shareholders and loading up on debt.

2017-2024Thames Water
£20+ Million in fines
Banking / IT FailureSettled

TSB IT Meltdown Locks 1.9 Million Customers Out of Accounts, Fined £48.65 Million

TSB's catastrophic IT migration locked up to 1.9 million customers out of their bank accounts for weeks, with some seeing other people's account details. Fraudsters exploited the chaos.

2018-2022TSB Bank
£48.65 Million fine + £366 Million costs
AirlinesSettled

Ryanair Forced to Pay Millions in Refunds After Systematic Refund Obstruction

Ryanair systematically obstructed passenger refunds for cancelled flights during COVID-19, offering only vouchers and making the cash refund process deliberately difficult.

2020-2022Ryanair
£100+ Million in refunds
Deceptive PracticesSettled

Publishers Clearing House Pays $18.5 Million for Deceiving Elderly Consumers

PCH used dark patterns to deceive consumers — particularly older adults — into believing that purchasing products would increase their chances of winning sweepstakes prizes.

2023Publishers Clearing House
$18.5 Million
Consumer & Environmental FraudSettled

Volkswagen Settles £193 Million UK Dieselgate Class Action

91,000 UK Volkswagen diesel vehicle owners received compensation after the company was found to have installed emissions-cheating defeat devices in their cars.

2015-2022Volkswagen
£193 Million
Data BreachSettled

British Airways Fined £20 Million After Hackers Steal 420,000 Customers' Payment Details

Hackers accessed personal and financial details of 420,000 BA customers through a skimming attack on the website and app, resulting in a major GDPR fine.

2018-2020British Airways
£20 Million
Pension FraudOrder Issued

Norton Motorcycles CEO Stole £14 Million from Employee Pension Funds

Norton Motorcycles CEO Stuart Garner misappropriated £14 million from employee pension funds, investing the money in his own businesses instead of securing workers' retirement savings.

2020-2021Norton Motorcycles
£14 Million
Telecom OverchargingSettled

Vodafone Fined £4.6 Million for Overcharging Pay-As-You-Go Customers

Vodafone failed to credit over 10,000 pay-as-you-go customers' accounts correctly and mishandled thousands of complaints, earning Ofcom's largest fine at the time.

2016Vodafone UK
£4.6 Million
Retail / Deceptive PricingOngoing

CMA Investigates Tesco Over Misleading Clubcard 'Savings' Claims

The CMA investigated whether Tesco's Clubcard pricing creates a misleading impression of savings by inflating non-Clubcard prices to make discounts appear larger than they really are.

2024Tesco