Rent-to-Own Business Aaron’s to Pay $28.4M to Settle Privacy Lawsuit

The nation's second-largest chain of rent-to-own furniture and appliance stores has agreed to pay $28.4 million to settle a case in which it violated California's consumer protection and privacy laws, attorney general Kamala Harris announced Monday. Aaron's Inc. overcharged customers, omitted important contract disclosures and installed software that could track the keystrokes of people who rented computers and even activate webcams or microphones to record users, according to a complaint filed by Harris’ office. Last year, Aaron's settled a case with the Federal Trade Commission over spyware installed on computers.