The Federal Trade Commission has charged an employment-opportunity scammer and his three companies with using newspaper classified ads with toll-free 800 numbers to market a fraudulent U.S. Postal Service employment program.
The FTC alleged the defendants, Sean Terrance Asbury and his companies, National Testing Services LLC, Exam Preparation LLC and Future Planning, LLC, doing business as Exam Prep LLC and Registration Department put classified ads in newspapers across the country.
According to the FTC, the program offered help in getting USPS jobs and guaranteed them job placement if they got a certain score on the service’s entrance exam. In reality, jobs, or even the opportunity to apply for jobs, were not available through the defendants. For many consumers, the advertised postal jobs were not available in their area at all.
The FTC charged that the defendants violated the FTC Act by misrepresenting: they have an affiliation with the USPS; the availability of jobs with the postal service; that consumers who use their materials are more likely to pass the employment exam than those who do not; and their refund policy. They also allegedly said that achieving a certain score on the exam would guarantee employment.
The FTC has filed a complaint and asked the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee for consumer redress and to stop the defendants’ allegedly false and deceptive selling practices.
The ads, which read “$ ATTENTION $ Now Hiring for Postal Jobs” and offered hourly salary rates, paid training and full benefits, led consumers to believe the defendants were connected with the USPS and the hiring process, according to the FTC.
When consumers called the toll-free numbers listed in the ads, they were told there were jobs available at their local post offices, continued the FTC. The defendants allegedly offered consumers an exam-preparation package and told them they had to pay a “one-time refundable fee” for the study materials. According to the defendants, the materials would assist consumers in getting jobs with the USPS by helping them pass the required entrance exam. The defendants also told consumers that if they scored high enough on the exam, they would receive jobs immediately.
In addition, the defendants allegedly said their product would include an employment application, a book entitled “Exam Prep Guide,” 12 practice exams, and a copy of the actual exam. Customers who ordered the defendants’ products did receive some of the materials, but did not get the practice exams or a copy of the actual exam. In addition, the defendants’ materials did not address the current postal entrance exam for many of the jobs they claimed were available.
According to the FTC, the defendants have no connection to the Postal Service. In many areas, the jobs the defendants described simply were not available. When consumers attempted to have their money refunded, they found out additional terms of the refund policy that hadn’t been disclosed before.
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