More Than $34 Million in Refund Checks Are Being Sent to Some Office Depot Customers

Refund checks totaling more than $34 million will be sent to consumers who allegedly were tricked by Office Depot, Inc. and a software provider into buying computer repair products and services, it was announced Thursday.

Office Depot paid $25 million as part of 2019 settlements with the Federal Trade Commission, according to a statement from the agency. The company's software supplier, Support.com, Inc., paid $10 million.

The FTC alleged that Office Depot and Support.com configured a virus scanning program that reported symptoms of malware or infections -- even when there were none -- when consumers answered yes to at least one of four "diagnostic" questions. The false scan results were then used to persuade consumers to buy computer repair and technical services, the FTC said.

Those services could cost hundreds of dollars.

Here's what to know if you expect a refund check.

• The FTC is sending out 541,247 checks averaging $63.35 per check.
• Recipients should deposit or cash checks within 60 days.
• Watch for possible scams. The FTC never requires people to pay money or provide account information to cash a refund check.
• If recipients have questions about the refunds, they should contact the FTC's refund administrator, Epiq, at 1-855-915-0916.

The FTC's new interactive dashboards for refund data shows a state-by-state breakdown of the Office Depot refunds, as well as refund programs from other FTC cases. In California, checks totaling $3.76 million will be mailed to 59,295 recipients with a median refund of $54, according to the FTC dashboard.