Dealing with the government is seldom delightful but if you’re persistent, you can sometimes achieve satisfaction. Falling under the spell of an impersonator, on ther other hand, nets you nothing but frustration and a thinner bank account.
The government takes a dim view of such activities. In one such case, the Federal Trade Commission is suing GovAssist LLC and Entry LLC. alleging they were part of a government impersonation scheme that deceived consumers seeking passport services.
The agency said the companies claimed to be the federal government or affiliated with the federal government as they sold consumers services that would supposedly help them get passports and other services.
The FTC alleges the operation uses deceptive paid search ads to impersonate the government or pretend to be affiliated with the government to lure travelers seeking passport services to defendants’ websites and makes false service promises to obtain consumers’ financial and personal information.
Google ads mislead the unwary
“Using paid Google search ads and landing pages to impersonate the government and target American travelers is illegal,” said Christopher Mufarrige, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “Today’s action should serve as a stark warning that the FTC will pursue all bad actors participating in search advertising schemes that mislead consumers, distort competition, or otherwise violate the FTC Act.”
Since at least October 2023, GovAssist and Entry have allegedly hosted a series of websites including GovAssist.com, Entry.com and IVS.us to offer passports and passport-related services, as well as other travel-related services such as visa applications and visa renewals, while pretending to be affiliated with the U.S. State Department.
The complaint alleges the defendants violate the law by:
Illegally impersonating the government. The defendants use paid Google search ads to position their websites where consumers would expect to find and access official federal government websites and services. When consumers run Google searches with such phrases as “apply for a new passport,” “get a new passport,” “how can I renew my passport,” “passport renewal,” and “passport renewal online,” Google routinely displays the defendants’ IVS.us and Entry.com online passport application pages as top sponsored results. GovAssist and Entry led consumers to believe that they were dealing with the federal government or an authorized government-affiliated provider even though the defendants are neither the federal government nor an authorized government-affiliated provider of passport-related services.
Making false promises about passport services. The defendants make various service promises they do not fulfill, including that they can directly issue U.S. passports. In many instances, consumers receive only a completed passport application they could have obtained for free from the State Department website. The defendants also make misleading claims about their prices, including that their services start at $89. In fact, the lowest price they offer is $119 plus a $29 shipping fee, for a total of $148.
Touting services with fake reviews. The defendants have attempted to conceal their scheme from consumers with fake positive consumer reviews to make their passport-related services appear legitimate. The defendants prominently tout on their websites that they have an “excellent rating” based on numerous consumer reviews on Trustpilot, an online review platform where the public can post customer reviews and other review sites, when in fact their rating is based on high numbers of fake positive reviews.
The FTC alleges the defendants’ actions violate the FTC Act, the Impersonation Rule and the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act.