FTC charges Clearwater firm for operating $1.3M OSHA scheme
Jun 22, 2016, 2:46pm EDT Updated Jun 22, 2016, 2:56pm EDT
Frances McMorris Reporter Tampa Bay Business Journal
The Federal Trade Commission has charged a Clearwater firm and its owner with allegedly bilking at least $1.3 million from small businesses by pretending to be a federal agency.
D&S Marketing Solutions LLC and its owner, Sean K. Juhl, allegedly operated a telemarketing scheme that tricked small businesses into believing they were being contacted by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration or another government agency and then scared them into thinking their firms were not compliant with federal law, the FTC said in a civil complaint filed in the U.S. District Court Middle District of Florida, Tampa division.
A Clearwater firm, allegedly misrepresented itself as a government agency and cold-called its victims
The FTC's complaint further contends the Clearwater-based firm told the small businesses they didn’t have the requisite government regulation posters on their premises and they would be fined or shut down if they didn’t buy posters D&S was selling for prices that ranged from approximately $180 to $190.
A call and email to the attorney listed for D&S was not returned by deadline.
The scheme began in 2011, the FTC complaint said.
“Telemarketers cold-call owners of newly-opened small businesses and deceptively represent that they are part of or affiliated with OSHA or another government agency,” the complaint continued. The callers would identify themselves as “US Corporate Compliance Officer,” “Occupational Safety and Compliance Administration” and “Office of Compliance and Safety Standards,” among other similar names.
After saying the businesses were not in compliance, the callers would make a threat saying the government would be coming to do an on-site inspection and would fine or shut down the enterprise if it wasn’t displaying the posters.
D&S would ask the small business owners for a credit card number for payment.
“After making the purchase, the small business owners often discover they have been dealing with a Florida company — not the government — and that these government regulation posters can be obtained at no cost from the government,” the FTC complaint said.
The court entered a temporary restraining order and imposed an asset freeze on D&S and Juhl on June 8. The FTC is seeking a refund of the monies paid by the small businesses to D&S Marketing.
The Better Business Bureau of West Florida, on its website, said it received a pattern of complaints about D&S concerning issues with selling practices. The BBB said it contacted D&S on May 1, 2013, “with regard to the pattern of complaints, however we have not received a response from the business.”