Antitrust Law Daily Wrap Up, CONSUMER PROTECTION NEWS: FTC sues substance abuse treatment centers, marketing groups for deceptive ads and tactics, (Jun 25, 2025)

By Wendy Biddle, J.D.

FTC alleges that treatment centers and marketing agencies used impersonation ad tactics to deceive those seeking treatment from specific substance abuse clinics.

The FTC announced it has filed suit in Maryland’s federal district court against multiple treatment centers, marketing agencies, and associated individuals for using deceptive Google ads and telemarketing to mislead vulnerable consumers seeking substance use disorder treatment, in violation of the FTC Act, the Opioid Addiction Recovery Fraud Prevention Act of 2018, and the Impersonation Rule. The FTC’s complaint seeks injunctions, civil penalties, and other relief for ongoing deceptive practices (FTC v. Mercury Marketing, LLC, FTC File No. 242 3079, No. 1:25-cv-02021-MJM (D. Md. Jun. 24, 2025)).

Alleged scheme. The FTC alleges that Mercury Marketing and other marketing agencies create deceptive mobile search ads that impersonate specific substance abuse treatment facilities that consumers search for on Google. The ads have an integrated phone number in them that routes callers to one of Mercury’s clients who resell those leads to their own treatment facility clients, including the named defendants Malibu Detox, LLC, Malibu Recovery Center, LLC, and Aliya Health Group, LLC. Essentially, a person who was seeking treatment would think they were calling one facility based on the ad, but in fact would be calling a call center or the like that would route the calls to a Mercury Marketing affiliated call center.

The treatment centers would continue the deception with their call centers, who would have telemarketers falsely tell the callers that they work for the facility the consumer searched for or for a central treatment facility clearing house trying to find the best treatment option for consumers in order to convert that lead to an admitted patient. In reality, the call center would lead them to their treatment center clients without the consumer knowing they were affiliated with them.

Defendant Jennifer Russ and JLux Consulting provided Malibu with detailed monthly call center analytics and assessments of the strengths and weaknesses of call center agents’ performance, despite knowing that the callers who reached the call center thought they were contacting another facility.

“These defendants took advantage of consumers searching online for substance use disorder treatment services during one of the most difficult times in their lives,” said Christopher Mufarrige, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection in a press release. “The FTC will not hesitate to take action to stop such underhanded and illegal conduct.”

Between January 2021 and May 2022, Mercury Marketing billed Malibu Detox and the call center nearly $1.8 million for pay per click ads. These invoices were for the more than 25,000 instances in which consumers “clicked” on advertising that Mercury had run on behalf of the Malibu defendants. And between June 15, 2021, and October 10, 2022, Mercury routed more than 3,500 calls generated by the campaign that used the misleading phone number to the Malibu defendants.

The FTC alleged the Mercury Defendants have continued their practice of impersonating SUD treatment facilities with which they have no affiliation even after the FTC promulgated the Impersonation Rule.

The complaint alleges the defendants’ actions violated both the FTC Act and the Opioid Addiction Recovery Fraud Prevention Act, as well as the Commission’s Impersonation Rule.

As a result of these deceptive tactics, the FTC alleges that many consumers were deterred from seeking admission at the clinics they were actually trying to contact. The complaint alleges seven counts and seeks a court order permanently barring the defendants from such conduct and imposing civil penalties against them.

The Case is No. 1:25-cv-02021-MJM.

Judge: Maddox, M.

Attorneys: Elizabeth Jones Sanger for the FTC.

Companies: Mercury Marketing, LLC

News: ConsumerProtection FederalTradeCommissionNews MarylandNews