In , Willms wrote that he never uses the word "free" to promote products because customers will assume the free products are worthless.

The FTC alleged that the defendants provided banks with false or misleading information, in order to acquire and maintain credit and debit card processing services from the banks in the face of mounting charge-back rates and consumer complaints. Willms and his companies also allegedly violated the Electronic Fund Transfer Act and other U.S. regulations by debiting consumers' bank accounts without their signed, written consent and without providing consumers with a copy of the written authorization.

The FTC worked with Canadian law enforcement agencies to bring the complaint, the agency said.

The IDG News Service