Judge Myers nonetheless fined Mr. Wees $1,000 for misleading customers into believing they were receiving legal advice and ordered him not to charge more than $60 for filling out routine bankruptcy forms.

But the proposed rules would probably force the company to disclose that in 1997, Pre-Paid Legal acknowledged misleading customers and consented to suspend sales of living trusts after an F.T.C. investigation.

Re-boxing of meat purchased from the Intervention Agency for the purpose of misleading customers.

Martin Robbins, a spokesman for the society, said: "The remedies themselves may not be directly harmful, but there is a real danger in misleading customers into thinking that homeopathy is somehow equivalent to real medicine.

Nevertheless, there have been occasional scandals in which funds have been involved in insider trading or in misleading customers.

Just last year, American Bankers Insurance was fined $15 million for misleading customers and sometimes refusing to pay claims for insurance on such things as credit card balances, furniture and appliances.

Apple Inc. has agreed to pay A$2.25 million penalty for misleading Australian customers about its iPad being 4G capable.

Travel companies have strongly denied that they are deliberately misleading customers.

They cited a civil lawsuit in California last year in which a jury exonerated American Fidelity and Trans World, which had both been accused of misleading military customers.

First Command was also accused of misleading customers about cheaper investment alternatives, specifically no-load mutual funds and the government's Thrift Savings Plan, which is similar to a civilian 401(k) plan.