FTC sues Evoke Wellness, claiming it misled consumers seeking substance abuse treatment

The company tricked consumers seeking treatment for substance abuse disorder through misleading ads, the FTC said in its lawsuit against Evoke

The company tricked consumers through misleading ads, the FTC said

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has filed a lawsuit against Evoke Wellness, LLC, Evoke Health Care Management, and their executives Jonathan Mosley and James Hull for using misleading Google ads and telemarketing to trick people seeking addiction treatment.

The FTC claims Evoke used fake Google search ads that looked like ads from other addiction treatment clinics.

These ads led people to call Evoke’s own call center, where telemarketers pretended to be from a central admissions office or another clinic, misleading callers about which clinic they had reached. Even when people asked for a specific clinic, the telemarketers continued the deception, the suit alleges.

“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.”

Between 2021 and 2023, Evoke ran over 68,000 misleading ads, leading to at least 3,500 calls to their call center. The FTC says this violates both the FTC Act and the Opioid Addiction Recovery Fraud Prevention Act. The lawsuit is asking the court to stop Evoke’s deceptive practices and impose penalties.