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Addiction Recovery Bulletin
KILLING TO MAKE A KILLING? –
Jan. 13, 2025 – “Preying on consumers suffering from addiction and other substance use disorders is wrong, and it’s illegal,” said Director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection. “The use of deceptive online ads to trick consumers into selecting one clinic over another is unacceptable, and the Commission will continue taking action against clinics, marketers, and others in this space, as well as their executives, when they break the law.”
According to the complaint, Evoke tricked consumers into contacting Evoke’s call center by using deceptive Google search ads that appeared to be from the specific substance use disorder treatment clinics searched for by consumers. Evoke targeted consumers who were searching on their mobile phones not only by using the specific names of other clinics as keywords but also prominently displayed the names of those other clinics in the Google ads in a format that impersonated the searched-for clinics.
When consumers clicked on or dialed the telephone number in those ads, Evoke funneled them to their own telemarketers. Evoke’s telemarketers continued the deception, typically by falsely claiming that consumers had reached a centralized admissions office or addiction treatment hotline, rather than a call center associated with Evoke. Even when callers indicated clearly that they sought a different, specific treatment clinic, the telemarketers consistently reinforced the callers’ misimpressions created by Evoke’s deceptive ads, for example by falsely claiming to have a relationship with the other clinic.
CONTINUE@FTC
The post Federal Trade Commission Sues Evoke Wellness’s Top Executives For Deception, Using Google Ads & Telemarketing to Masquerade As Other Clinics appeared first on Addiction/Recovery eBulletin.