FTC accuses drug treatment center with creating misleading Google ads to recruit clients

A Miramar-based drug treatment center is being accused of using deceptive Google ads to recruit clients.

The Federal Trade Commission filed a complaint in U.S. District Court in Fort Lauderdale last week accusing Evoke Wellness LLC and Evoke Health Care Management LLC with using a combination of deceptive Google search ads and telemarketing to masquerade as other substance use disorder treatment providers.

Also named as defendants in the lawsuit are Jonathan Moseley, chief information officer for Evoke Wellness and CEO of Evoke Health Care Management, provider of management services for the wellness centers, and James Hull, chief marketing officer for Evoke Wellness and vice president of Evoke Health Care Management. The two men approved advertising content, purchased media and monitored and analyzed the ads’ performances, the lawsuit says.

A news release detailing the FTC’s complaint states that Evoke “tricked” consumers into contacting its call center by using Google ads that appeared to be from the specific treatment clinic they searched for.

The specific names of other clinics were not only used as keywords but also prominently displayed in a format that impersonated the searched-for clinics, the complaint said.

“Preying on consumers suffering from addiction and other substance use disorders is wrong, and it’s illegal,” said Samuel Levine, director of the FTC’s 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.”

With the change in presidential administrations, questions have arisen about the future of FTC initiatives filed in the days and weeks leading up to the inauguration. Lina Khan, appointed by former President Biden as commission chair, has been replaced as chair by Donald Trump pick Andrew Ferguson, the FTC’s website showed on Tuesday.

Still, the FTC’s two Republican commissioners joined its three-member Democratic-appointed majority in authorizing the filing of the complaint, according to a news release about the lawsuit.

Asked whether the lawsuit could be affected by the change, Mitchell Katz, public affairs specialist for the FTC’s Office of Public Affairs, responded, “Sorry, but we don’t speculate what the commission will do in the future.”

Efforts to reach Moseley and Hull were unsuccessful.

Evoke Wellness’ website lists six facilities: in Coconut Creek and Miramar; plus Waltham and Cohasset in Massachusetts; Hillard, Ohio; and San Marcos, Texas.

When consumers called the phone numbers that appeared in the misleading ads, they were funneled to Evoke’s telemarketers, the complaint states.

“Evoke’s telemarketers continued the deception,” the news release states, “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 clearly indicated they had sought a different, specific treatment center, the telemarketers continued the deceptions, including by falsely claiming that Evoke had relationships with the other clinic, the release said.

Evoke’s telemarketing training stressed that before answering specific questions about Evoke or its services, marketers must qualify patients’ ability to pay with insurance or out-of-pocket for services typically quoted as $1,000 a day for multiweek treatment programs, the lawsuit says.

At least 68,510 misleading Evoke ads were sent between 2021 and 2023, resulting in at least 3,500 calls to the company’s call center, according to the complaint.

Evoke Wellness is accused of violating both the FTC Act, which prohibits falls advertisements, and the Opioid Addiction Recovery Fraud Prevention Act of 2018, which bans unfair or deceptive acts or practices in connection with substance use disorder treatment products and services.

The FTC is seeking a permanent stop to the deceptive practices and civil penalties.

Ron Hurtibise covers business and consumer issues for the South Florida Sun Sentinel. He can be reached by phone at 954-356-4071 or by email at rhurtibise@sunsentinel.com.