By Al Sunshine, Consumer Investigator, Special to SouthFloridaReporter.com, July 28, 2015 –
It’s the latest “Bait & Switch”
Offer Senior Citizens help with “Replacement” Medicare Cards offering additional benefits, ask for their Bank Account Information, and make unauthorized withdrawals from the bank accounts.
That’s what the Federal Trade Commission charged a Tampa Business group with doing, and as part of a settlement, they’ve been banned by the FTC from ever selling healthcare products again.
Federal Investigators say the settlements resolves 2014 charges against Benjamin Todd Workman and Glenn Erikson and their companies.
How’d the scam work?
According to the FTC:
“Their telemarketers falsely told consumers they needed their bank account numbers to verify their identities before sending a new Medicare card, promising they would not take money from the accounts.
In fact, they took several hundred dollars from each consumer’s account and provided nothing in return. In some cases, their telemarketers falsely promised to provide consumers with identity theft protection services.”
The defendants allegedly misrepresented that they were working on behalf of Medicare, and said they needed to verify consumers’ identities using personal information that included their bank account numbers. The defendants allegedly assured consumers that the information would not be used to debit their bank accounts, and that there was no charge for the new Medicare card or information about Medicare benefits.
However, within a few weeks, consumers learned their bank accounts had been debited either $399 or $448 via remotely created checks (RCCs), the complaint alleges. Despite these charges, consumers did not receive any kind of product or service from the defendants. In some instances, the defendants debited the accounts of consumers they had not even contacted.
Under the settlement orders, the defendants also are banned from selling identity theft protection-related products and creating or depositing remotely created checks or remotely created payment orders, which are used to make bank account debits. They also are prohibited from billing or charging consumers without their consent, misrepresenting material facts about any product or service, violating the Telemarketing Sales Rule, and selling or otherwise benefiting from customers’ personal information.
Per the FTC:
“The orders impose a judgment of more than $1.4 million, which will be suspended upon payment of $35,000 by Workman and the surrender of certain bank accounts.
In each case, the full judgment will become due immediately if either defendant is found to have misrepresented his financial condition. The defendants are Workman, Sun Bright Ventures LLC and Citadel ID Pro LLC, and Erickson and Trident Consulting Partners LLC.
Learn about this and other “Automatic Debit Scams” and how to protect yourself: HERE
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