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WASHINGTON, Oct. 18, 1999 -- A federal district court has issued
a Temporary Restraining Order with Asset Freeze against an Orange
County, California company that purportedly sold work-at-home medical
billing opportunities.
Data Medical Capital, Inc. and
its owner Bryan D'Antonio, promised consumers that they could earn a
minimum of $23,400 per year using their home computers to process
medical bills for physicians with whom the defendants had established
relationships.
The Federal Trade Commission
alleges that the defendants misrepresented the opportunities by
bolstering false earnings claims and misrepresenting the assistance that
consumers would receive in getting medical billing work.
The Commission has asked the
court to continue the asset freeze, issue permanent injunctions and
order the defendants to pay consumer redress.
The FTC filed its complaint in
the U.S. District Court in the Central District of California against
Data Medical Capital, Inc., doing business as DataMed and MedCo, and
Bryan D'Antonio, also known as Brian D'Antonio. The defendants promoted
and sold medical billing work-at-home opportunities via newspaper ads
and an Internet web site, "www.medco.net".
According to the FTC, the scam
worked like this: Data Medical advertised in the "help wanted"
section of various newspapers seeking medical processors. A typical ad
stated:
MEDICAL BILLING
Nationwide company seeking Billers. PC required. No exp. necessary. Earn
$31,500 plus. Call 1-800-262-6595.
The defendants' web site also
encouraged consumers to call the listed toll-free number to learn more
about the job opportunity.
When consumers called, they
were connected to telemarketers, who went into their sales pitch,
emphasizing doctors' need for people to perform electronic medical
billing. Consumers were told that the defendants would arrange for the
consumer to receive generally between 150-250 claims per week from
doctors with whom the defendants had business arrangements, and that
consumers would earn from $3 to $5 per claim.
Consumers were then told that
in order to take advantage of the Data Medical opportunity all they
would have to do is pay $299 - $399 for a software package, which would
include the medical billing software, a tutorial and instruction manual,
and the names of their prearranged physician clients. When consumers
complained that the Data Medical opportunity had been misrepresented,
the defendants would not refund the purchase price.
The FTC complaint alleges that
the defendants falsely represented that consumers who purchased the
medical billing opportunity would earn a minimum of $23,400 per year.
The complaint also alleges that the defendants falsely represented that
they would arrange for consumers to receive medical billing work from
physicians with whom the defendants had established relationships.
According to the FTC, consumers, in fact, did not earn the promised
income, and the physicians referred to did not even know of Data Medical
and did not want or need the services offered.
The Commission vote to
authorize staff to file the complaint in district court was 4-0.
The Commission filed the
complaint in the U.S. District Court, Central District of California,
Southern Division, in Santa Ana, on October 14, 1999. The judge signed
the TRO with Asset Freeze on October 15.
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