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Telemarketing company accused of misleading donors

Posted in Health & Wellness on September 17, 2012

Akron-based InfoCision, a telemarketing company that solicits donations for charities such as the American Cancer Society, is accused of keeping most of the money raised and lying to the public about it.

An article in the October issue of Bloomberg Markets Magazine details the allegations against the company. According to the article, InfoCision instructs its employees to say that at least 70 percent of the money they raise for the American Cancer Society and American Diabetes Association will go toward charity. But these charities, which approved the telemarketing scripts, in actuality had already agreed to give InfoCision more than half of the money raised.

But the truth is even worse than that, the article claims. InfoCision kept all the donation money that it raised on behalf of the American Cancer Society in 2010, according to Bloomberg Markets. The article reports that in fiscal 2010, InfoCision raised $5.3 million for the ACS. None of that money went to cancer research or to help cancer patients, according to the society’s filings with the IRS and the State of Maine.

InfoCision also kept 78 percent of the donation money that it collected last year in its nationwide neighbor-to-neighbor program on behalf of the American Diabetes Association.

This is not the first time the company has faced close scrutiny. In April, InfoCision agreed to pay $75,000 and change its calling practices to ward off action by Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine.

DeWine said the company failed to make required disclosures to consumers when it made solicitation calls on behalf of its nonprofit clients.

DeWine’s office concluded InfoCision violated state law on “multiple occasions” in four ways:

  • Failing to identify InfoCision as a paid solicitor when it called consumers to seek donations for its clients
  • Misleading consumers who asked about how much of the funds raised would go to the charity it represented
  • Misleading consumers that callers were volunteers or employees of a charity
  • Failing to file timely financial reports to the state about the results of its fundraising drives.

The attorneys of Elk & Elk are investigating a potential claim against telemarketing companies who misrepresent that they are working for charities. Or, who misrepresent the percentage of your donation which actually goes to the charity.

If you were contacted by a telemarketer and gave to a charity, please call us now at 1-800-ELK-OHIO or fill out our online evaluation form.