Illinois, Indiana among 22 states and FTC to sue Amazon over inflated advertising prices

CHICAGO -- The Federal Trade Commission and 22 states, including Illinois and Indiana, filed a lawsuit against online retailer Amazon on Monday claiming that it defrauded advertising customers.

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court in the Western District of Washington, claims that Amazon overcharged 1.2 million advertising customers by misleading them on prices for online auctions for ads.

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The complaint says Amazon said it was offering competitive prices on several ad products when it was actually inflating auction prices.

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"When one of the world's largest online retailers engages in unfair and deceptive conduct, the impact can be staggering," said FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson. "Amazon has millions of advertising customers who were misled into paying significantly higher prices."

In response, Amazon wrote in a blog post that the FTC "leans on a handful of simplified communications to allege a companywide effort to deceive."

"That is patently false," the company said.