Submitting Dark Patterns to the Federal Trade Commission

When a design tricks people out of their money or their data, you can report it. Here is what dark patterns are, how to report dark patterns to the FTC, and why product teams should look for them in their own work.

To report dark patterns to the FTC, go to ReportFraud.ftc.gov and describe what happened, with screenshots, the web address, the date, and any money you lost. The Federal Trade Commission doesn't resolve individual complaints. Your report goes into a law enforcement database that investigators use to spot trends and build cases.

What is a dark pattern?

A dark pattern is a design choice that steers people into a decision they didn't mean to make. The FTC describes dark patterns as design practices that trick or manipulate people into buying things or giving up their privacy. These are the kinds you are likely to meet on a phone or a website.

• Fees appear at the last step. A ticket or a hotel room looks affordable until checkout, when mandatory fees are added. The FTC calls this practice drip pricing.

• Signing up is easy and canceling is hard. One tap starts a subscription. Stopping the charges takes a phone call, a maze of screens, or a chat that keeps offering deals.

• The "no" button shames you. The link to decline reads "No, I don't want to save money." Designers call this tactic confirmshaming.

• The box is already checked. A box that shares your data or adds an extra product is checked before you arrive, so doing nothing counts as a yes.

• Fake urgency pushes you to buy. A countdown clock or a "low stock" message pushes you to buy now, even though the offer has no real deadline.

• Items appear in your cart that you didn't choose. An extra product is added to your order without your permission.

Each of these tricks works because the screen looks normal. A dark pattern repeats for every customer who reaches that screen, so a small charge to you is likely a charge to many other customers too.

Why should you report dark patterns to the FTC?

The FTC builds cases from patterns, and one person's complaint is a single data point. Reports go into the Consumer Sentinel Network, a secure database available to local, state, and federal law enforcement. FTC attorneys and analysts look through those reports to find trends and decide where to act.

Your report also helps people you will never meet. A company that hides a fee from you hides the same fee from everyone else who buys. When enough reports describe the same screen, the pattern becomes visible to the people who can stop the practice.

How do you report a dark pattern to the FTC?

Gather your evidence before you start, because a report with specifics is far more useful to investigators.

1. Save the evidence before you leave the page. Take a screenshot of each screen, including the price, the buttons, any fine print, and the final total. If a chat or a form is involved, capture the screen before you close the window.

2. Write down the web address and the date. Copy the full web address of each page from your browser and note the date and time you saw the page.

3. Describe what happened in order. Write what you expected, what happened instead, and every step you took to fix the problem. Include the names of anyone you spoke with and what each person promised.

4. Add up the money involved. List each charge, its date, its amount, and how you paid, such as a credit card, a debit card, or a payment app.

5. Go to ReportFraud.ftc.gov and start a report. Describe the design that tricked you, using the notes you gathered. You can share as much or as little about yourself as you like.

6. Read the next steps the site gives you. After you submit, the site shows steps you can take to protect yourself or try to get your money back.

If you paid by credit card, you can also dispute a billing error with your card issuer. The FTC advises sending your letter so that the letter reaches the issuer within 60 days after the first bill with the error was sent to you. Use the address for billing inquiries, not the address for payments.

What happens after you file a report?

Your report joins others in Consumer Sentinel, which is available to federal, state, and local law enforcement across the country. The FTC uses reports to investigate and bring cases against bad business practices. FTC staff also use reports to choose which problems to warn the public about in consumer alerts.

The FTC doesn't resolve individual complaints, so a report alone won't return your money. Money comes back through other routes: the business itself, a dispute with your bank or card issuer, or a refund program after a law enforcement case. Keep your evidence in case one of those routes opens later.

Where else can you report a dark pattern?

Depending on what happened, another agency may be able to help with your specific problem.

• Contact your state attorney general. State attorneys general and consumer protection offices may mediate complaints and investigate businesses. Find your state's office at usa.gov/state-consumer.

• Use the CFPB for financial products. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau takes complaints about checking and savings accounts, credit cards, loans, money transfers, debt collection, and similar products at consumerfinance.gov/complaint. The CFPB forwards your complaint to the company and tracks the response. Put every key fact in your first complaint, because the CFPB generally doesn't accept a second complaint about the same problem.

• Report a scam the same way. If the design was part of a scam rather than a real business, ReportFraud.ftc.gov is still the right place. Read how scams work as a system to see how those tricks fit together.

How can product teams spot dark patterns in their own product?

In 2022, FTC staff published a report called Bringing Dark Patterns to Light. The report grew out of a public workshop the FTC held in 2021, and the report lists the tactics described above along with many others. The report also makes a point every designer should hear: companies are responsible for the net impression their design gives, not only for the exact words on the screen.

That standard means a team can't defend a trap by pointing to fine print. Use these checks on your own sign-up, checkout, and cancellation flows.

• Cancel your own subscription. Count the steps to cancel and compare them with the steps to sign up. If canceling takes much longer, fix the cancellation flow.

• Read every default. Find each box that is checked before the customer arrives and ask whether the customer would choose that option on purpose.

• Show the full price early. Find the first screen that shows a price and check that the price includes every mandatory fee.

• Read the decline buttons aloud. If the button to say no insults the customer, rewrite the button in plain, neutral words.

• Check every timer and stock message against real data. A deadline or a "low stock" message should be true for every customer who sees the message.

• Judge experiments by understanding as well as sales. The FTC report notes that testing used to deceive or manipulate customers is a sign of dark patterns. Ask real customers to explain the terms back to you before you ship the winning version.

Why are dark patterns a legal and trust risk?

The FTC Act already prohibits unfair and deceptive practices, and dark patterns can fall under that law. For subscriptions sold online, the Restore Online Shoppers' Confidence Act, passed in 2010, adds three requirements. A seller has to disclose all material terms clearly before collecting billing information, get the customer's express informed consent before charging, and provide simple ways to stop recurring charges.

The FTC tried to go further. In 2024, the FTC amended its Negative Option Rule to require, among other things, a simple way to cancel, and the change became known as the click-to-cancel rule. In July 2025, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit vacated the amended rule because the FTC had skipped a required preliminary regulatory analysis. The FTC then restored the older version of the rule and asked the public for comment on whether to update the rule. The court's decision left the Restore Online Shoppers' Confidence Act in place.

Enforcement continues under existing law. In September 2025, Amazon agreed to a $2.5 billion settlement with the FTC, including a $1 billion civil penalty and $1.5 billion in refunds, over allegations that the company enrolled customers in Prime without their consent and made canceling difficult.

The trust risk arrives sooner than any lawsuit. A customer who feels tricked disputes the charge, files a report, and tells friends about the experience. This article explains the law in general terms, so talk with a lawyer about your own product.

In short

• Dark patterns are design choices, such as hidden fees, hard cancellations, and pre-checked boxes, that steer people into decisions they didn't mean to make.

• Report dark patterns to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov with screenshots, web addresses, dates, a clear account of events, and the money you lost.

• Product teams carry responsibility for the net impression of their design, so test sign-up, checkout, and cancellation flows the way a customer would.

If you'd like a careful outside review of your own sign-up, checkout, and cancellation flows, see how I work with product teams.