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FTC Charges Companies Sold Fraudulent Job Placement Service

August 17, 2005
Watch out for ads promising jobs with the Postal Service. They won't deliver for you.

The Federal Trade Commission has charged Sean Terrance Asberry and his companies, National Testing Services, LLC; Exam Preparation, LLC; and Future Planning, LLC, with running an employment-opportunity scam.

The agency says the defendants offered consumers help in getting jobs with the Postal Service and guaranteed them job placement if they were able to get a certain score on the Service’s entrance exam.

In reality the FTC say, 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 alleged the defendants put classified ads in newspapers across the country, leading consumers to believe the defendants were connected with the U.S. Postal Service and the hiring process. When consumers called the toll-free numbers listed in the ads, they were told there were jobs available at their local post office.

The defendants offered consumers an exam-preparation package and told consumers 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 Postal Service 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 immediate job placement.

The defendants said that 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 told the FTC they 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, they say, 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.

The FTC has filed a complaint and asked the court for consumer redress and to stop the defendants’ allegedly false and deceptive selling practices.

The FTC charged that the defendants violated the FTC Act by misrepresenting: they have an affiliation with the U.S. Postal Service; 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; that achieving a certain score on the exam will guarantee employment; and their refund policy.

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