American Senior Alliance Shut Down from Sending
Deceptive Mailers to Senior Citizens
Texas Attorney General says Prospect Pros agree to
halt mailings designed to get seniors’ personal information
March 23, 2000 – There is nothing that has prompted
as much email to SeniorJournal.com in the last ten years as the
“American Senior Alliance,” which has been busted by the Texas
Attorney General, more than once. Well, actually more than one company
using that name to scam senior citizens.
The news release on March 16 said, “Texas Attorney
General Greg Abbott today resolved the state’s enforcement action
against a direct mail marketing firm that operated an unlawful lead card
scheme and targeted senior citizens.”
This follows actions the Texas AG took in 2006
against others in Texas that were also using this form of deceptive
mailings and also using similar names. American Senior Alliance, Inc.
and owner George R. Katosic were sued,
along with two other companies and their owners, by Texas Attorney
General Greg Abbott in 2006 for "bombarding seniors in Texas and across the
country with deceptive, unsolicited mailers.
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NOTE: SeniorJournal.com first began
alerting seniors to the problems of mailings from the American
Senior Alliance in 2004 -
American Senior Alliance Mailer Should Be Viewed With
Caution
By Tucker Sutherland, editor
Nov. 30, 2004 - SeniorJournal.com has received many
emails concerning a mailing to senior citizens by the American Senior
Alliance, but no one has been able to locate this company, which make
excessively enticing promises in the mailing. We suggest seniors not
respond to the mailing.
Read more...
“National Processing Center” Appears to Replace
“American Senior Alliance” in Suspicious Mailing to Seniors
By Tucker Sutherland, editor, SeniorJournal.com
Dec. 14, 2004
Mystery Solved: American Senior Alliance Pushing
Annuities
By Tucker Sutherland, editor
Jan. 3, 2005
American Senior Alliance Says Their Purpose is
“Senior Education”
By Tucker Sutherland, Editor
Jan. 27, 2005
American Federation of Senior Citizens One of Many
Seniors Should Avoid
By Tucker Sutherland, editor
Jan. 30, 2005
Court Burns United Seniors Association for
Misleading Senior Citizens
Solicitation letters were in envelopes appearing to
come from Social Security; Group evolved today to USA Next
Aug. 26, 2005
American Senior Alliance Gets Busted with Two
Others
Texas AG cracks down on three companies for taking
advantage of seniors
Feb. 26, 2006 - One of the most notorious mass mailers of
materials to senior citizens that were thinly designed to look as if
they were an official government message has finally been busted.
American Senior Alliance, Inc. and owner George R. Katosic were sued,
along with two other companies and their owners, by Texas Attorney
General Greg Abbott for "bombarding seniors in Texas and across the
country with deceptive, unsolicited mailers.
Read more...
Read more
Senior Citizen Alerts |
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In the most recent charge, the Texas AG said that the company's
"card solicitations have used the name American Senior Alliance and
other assumed names for seniors to return the lead cards with their
personal information."
The defendant in this case was actually, Prospect Pros LLC,
which did business as American Seniors Alliance. The company, according
to the Texas AG, “used improper tactics to obtain senior citizens’
personal information.”
According to state investigators, the defendants
packaged and sold the unlawfully obtained information to insurance
companies and sales solicitation firms.
Under the agreed final judgment filed earlier this
month, Prospect Pros LLC, Prospect Pros Inc. and owners William D. and
Lynn Thompson, of Plano, Texas, are prohibited from sending misleading
or untrue direct mail to senior citizens.
In the future, the defendants must clearly disclose
when mailers are sent on behalf of a particular insurance agent or other
vendor and that these representatives may contact seniors who respond.
The newly required disclosures will ensure that
senior citizens are aware of the direct mail solicitations’ true
purpose. Prospect Pros has also agreed to pay $30,000 to reimburse the
state for its attorneys’ fees.
In early 2006, the Attorney General took legal
action against four “lead card” generation schemes, including Prospect
Pros. All but one, Lead Concepts Inc. and its owner Christopher Weir,
have been resolved.
Prospect Pros produced and mailed misleading direct
mail solicitations that were intended to alarm senior citizens. The
defendant’s mailers featured urgent messages in boldface type and
appeared to come from government agencies and were intended to obtain
the recipient’s personal information via postage-paid return cards.
Prospect Pros, for example, mailed a “Medicare
Update” that purported to provide information about changes to the
Medicare program and appeared to be sponsored by the federal government.
By law, the lead card solicitation must state clearly that it is not
affiliated with any governmental agency. Other mailers appeared to
inform older Texans about estate and probate tax avoidance.
In other cases, mailers were designed to make
elderly recipients think their government benefits might be in jeopardy
and that returning the cards would preserve those benefits.
Texas Attorney General’s toll-free complaint line
at (800) 252-8011
>>
http://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov.
