A website called GamingClaims.com is claiming that "Sega Gaming Violated California Consumer Protection Laws" with mobile Sonic games. Does anybody here know anything about this? A friend on Facebook messaged me about it last night. The website claims people are eligible for compensation if they played Sonic the Hedgehog, SonicDash, Sonic Forces, Sonic the Hedgehog Classic, Sonic CD Classic, Crazy Taxi Classic, and Streets of Rage Classic.
The only thing that these games have in common that comes to my mind is that they ask for your age on startup for targeted advertising. Which could be a form of data collection, especially that of children, that California's not okay with.
Unusual -- you'd think they'd explain what actually happened on the website. And then the law firm the website mentions doesn't list SEGA as a case they're currently investigating. There was a class-action lawsuit in California against SEGA in 2021, but it's about something completely unrelated. It seems the same lawyer and firm have done the same process many times with multiple companies in sight -- Coinbase, JUUL, T-Mobile. And every time, people are just as confused. More information is needed.
Mobile or not, most people would argue that you likely qualify for compensation if you played Sonic Forces, yes.
The only thing I can think of is that they were initially ad-free paid games and then changed payment model to be ad-driven free games. There's a similar thing going on with Prime Video now, where they've added ads to a subscription previously advertised as removing ads.
They started running that ad on social media around January. I can't say it's 100% a scam, but if you look up the people involved online they don't have a good track record if you look them up across various places. At work I've seen scams like this where they take your info down to see if you qualify. They then send you a follow-up to say that you do, take down your financial info in case they get a settlement and then use that to steal from you.
That's funny. I also had someone who was browsing Facebook bring this up to me. I assumed it was just a generic class action about the shitty monetization of those games.
So here's what concerns me. Normally when you see these class-action lawsuit websites, its after the two parties have already reached a settlement. They usually also tell you the case name itself. Instead, this page is saying, "hey, we BELIEVE Sega broke the law, and if they did, you COULD be entitled to compensation." So its basically a mailing list for if that ever comes to pass? I wouldn't feel safe with them just holding onto my personal data. What's worse, go to their website's current cases page. Where's the Sega case? Why do none of the links work? Why does this feel more like an advertising firm than a law group? And gosh just look at their BBB. Don't give this website any of your info. EDIT: oops @Palas and @Linkabel basically said this already lol
If you look up Jeremy Troxel, the attorney who's supposely heading all this, you'll end up in this profile: Harvard, recommendations from other profiles... looks legit enough. But a single reverse image search will reveal another profile with that same picture: Which, if it didn't look shady enough before, should warn anyone not to touch anything related to this with a three-meter pole. Not to mention you won't find any ther vestiges of the guy anywhere else. Interestingly, his firm seems to actually exist with other lawyers associated with it, so I don't really understand what kind of situation is this.
