The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced this week that it would be sending upward of $5.6 million in refunds to certain Ring customers as part of a settlement over claims that the Amazon-owned security camera company allowed employees and contractors access to consumers’ private videos.
Are you owed unclaimed settlement money? Check out our class action rebates page full of open class action settlements.
Overall, the FTC will send Ring refunds via PayPal to more than 117,000 consumers who had certain types of Ring devices, including indoor cameras, the agency said in a press release. The settlement also requires Ring to delete videos it should not have in its possession and establish a more robust privacy and security program.
Here’s everything you need to know about the $5.6 million Amazon Ring settlement, including information about the claim form, how to find out if you’re eligible to get a refund, and more.
Is there a claim form for the Ring settlement?
Unlike a typical class action settlement, there is no Amazon Ring camera settlement claim form. Instead, the FTC notified consumers who are eligible for a refund directly via email, and payments will be sent automatically to those eligible consumers via PayPal. This means consumers who are eligible for a Ring refund do not have to do anything to sign up for a payment.
The FTC has urged consumers who were notified about the Ring settlement to redeem their PayPal payment within 30 days.
How much money will I get from the Ring camera settlement?
The median Ring settlement refund amount is around $48 per consumer, though some payments may be as high as $150.
Ring customers can see how much refund money will be sent to recipients in each state on the FTC’s payment map.
Do I qualify for the Ring settlement?
If you’re eligible for the FTC’s recent Ring settlement, you should have been notified about it via email.
How does the FTC know who’s eligible for a Ring settlement refund?
The FTC says on its website that it typically requires defendants to provide a list of affected customers, as well as their contact information and how much they paid for a particular product or service.
How did we get here?
In May 2023, the FTC filed a complaint against Ring over claims that it had compromised customers’ privacy by allowing any employee or contractor to access private videos and failing to have in place basic privacy and security safeguards. The agency also alleged Ring’s privacy failures had allowed hackers to take control over customer accounts, cameras and videos.
More broadly, the FTC alleged in its 20-page complaint that Ring duped customers by promising greater security and then failing to restrict employees’ and contractors’ access to videos, which were in turn used without consent to “train algorithms,” among other purposes. According to the FTC, Ring’s privacy shortcomings sparked several instances of “egregious violations of users’ privacy,” and the agency said Ring took no steps to address the problem or adequately notify consumers until January 2018.
“For example, one employee over several months viewed thousands of video recordings belonging to female users of Ring cameras that surveilled intimate spaces in their homes such as their bathrooms or bedrooms. The employee wasn’t stopped until another employee discovered the misconduct. Even after Ring imposed restrictions on who could access customers’ videos, the company wasn’t able to determine how many other employees inappropriately accessed private videos because Ring failed to implement basic measures to monitor and detect employees’ video access.”
Under the resulting FTC order, which required approval from a federal court before going into effect, Ring, which was bought by Amazon in 2018, is required to delete certain data, models and algorithms “derived from videos it unlawfully reviewed” and must implement a stronger privacy and security program replete with “novel safeguards on human review of videos,” among other security controls.
Relatedly, Ring was hit in January 2020 with a proposed class action lawsuit that alleged the company’s indoor security cameras were plagued by vulnerabilities that allowed hackers to spy on and harass consumers and children inside their own homes. That Ring lawsuit was resolved with a settlement in October 2023.
Who do I contact about the Ring settlement if I have more questions?
Per the FTC, the Ring refund settlement is being administered by Rust Consulting, Inc., who can be contacted at 1-833-637-4884. Consumers can call to request, for instance, payment via check rather than PayPal.
Answers to frequently asked questions about the FTC’s refund program can be found here.
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