The Federal Trade Commission filed a civil lawsuit Friday against Medicor, a business that marketed medical-billing opportunities to consumers through direct response print ads.
A federal judge in Los Angeles ordered Medicor, Van Nuys, CA, to cease its marketing operations temporarily. The judge also froze the company's assets and appointed a temporary receiver pending a hearing on the injunction.
According to the FTC, Medicor ran ads in newspapers throughout the country promising earnings of $20 to $40 an hour and training.
Medicor teleservices agents told consumers who responded to a toll-free number in the ads that they could earn up to $1,500 a week at their home computers processing medical bills for doctors, according to the FTC. Medicor agents falsely told consumers that the company would provide doctors whose claims could be processed, the FTC alleged.
Consumers paid $325 to $495 for the opportunity, the FTC said. When consumers complained that Medicor had made misrepresentations in its marketing claims, they were told that refunds were not available after the package containing the medical-billing software had been opened.
The FTC lawsuit charges Medicor with misrepresenting potential earnings and the availability of refunds, as well as misrepresenting that the company would provide consumers with billing work from doctors.
Attempts to contact Medicor were unsuccessful.
