Aug 26 (Reuters) - Care.com, a platform for providing

in-home care services to children, older adults and pets, agreed

to pay $8.5 million to settle U.S. Federal Trade Commission

charges it grossly inflated the number of available jobs and

made it difficult for customers to cancel memberships.

The settlement with the unit of IAC Inc ( IAC ) was filed on

Monday in the federal court in Austin, Texas, and requires a

judge's approval.

It followed tens of thousands of complaints from

Care.com customers, including many who thought they canceled

memberships but were billed again. The $8.5 million will go

toward refunds.

Care.com did not admit or deny wrongdoing in the

settlement. It had no immediate comment.

The FTC accused Care.com of enticing people to buy

auto-renewing memberships by overstating the number of jobs, or

"gigs," available on its platform, and the amounts that people

could expect to earn from them.

It said Care.com knew or should have known a significant

number of the jobs were unlikely to result in employment.

The FTC said Care.com then "frustrates" customers

seeking to cancel by using deceptive website designs, including

a "Submit" button that misleads them into believing they

canceled, and a "Cancel" button that actually stops the

cancellation process.

About 2.9 million U.S. consumers bought at least one

Care.com auto-renewing membership between January 2019 and March

2022, the FTC said.

Monday's settlement requires Care.com to provide a

"simple mechanism" for customers to avoid unwanted renewals, and

be able to back up employment claims on its website.

"Care.com used inflated job numbers and baseless

earnings claims to lure caregivers onto its platform, and used

deceptive design practices to trap consumers in subscriptions,"

FTC consumer protection chief Samuel Levine said. "The order

announced today puts a stop to these unlawful practices."