An addiction clinic released over 68,500 Google search ads to purposefully deceive addicts looking for treatment, a growing online trend within the substance abuse world.
Evoke Wellness, a Florida-based substance abuse treatment clinic, is settling allegations that it purposely deceived people looking for help with substance use disorders.
The company provides substance use disorder treatment for various drug and alcohol disorders, including opioid use.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) sued Evoke Wellness and its officials, Jonathan Mosley and James Hull, in January 2025 for using deceptive Google search ads.
The lawsuit put forward by the FTC explained that Evoke Wellness used deceptive Google search ads to trick those suffering from substance use disorders into contacting its call center over other substance abuse clinics.
Using the names of other clinics as keywords, Evoke Wellness pretended to be those clinics to get more people to come to their company.
“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.
Evoke Wellness knowingly “targeted consumers searching for specific substance use disorder clinics online,” the FTC said in a press release.
Specifically, Evoke Wellness targeted mobile users by using the names of other clinics and displaying these names in Google ads.
When consumers called the number they thought was associated with another clinic, Evoke Wellness picked up the line and “continued the deception” by claiming that the person had called the admin office or addiction treatment hotline.
They furthered this deception by misleading consumers who explicitly stated they hoped to contact another clinic.
“The telemarketers consistently reinforced the callers’ misimpressions created by Evoke’s deceptive ads, for example, by falsely claiming to have a relationship with the other clinic,” the FTC said.
For at least two years (between 2021 and 2023), Evoke released over 68,500 Google search ads used to deceive consumers, leading to at least 3,500 calls to Evoke’s call center.
The substance abuse clinic is being forced to pay $1.9 million to settle these allegations.
Deceptive Google search ads are a growing problem for addicts
The FTC has released a warning regarding the use of deceptive adverts aimed at those looking for a substance abuse clinic.
Typically, the first ads to come up on Google are usually paid, meaning that bad actors are using these paid slots to exploit users struggling with addiction.
This is usually done to collect your personal information or scam you out of your hard-earned cash.
Much like Evoke Wellness, scammers impersonate other clinics and substitute the real clinics' contact information with their own.
“When you call, they may not tell you clearly who they are and may redirect you to treatment that might not be close to home or what you’re looking for,” the FTC said.
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