
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has filed a lawsuit against a group called “DOT Authority,” which has allegedly scammed over $19 million dollars from unsuspecting truck drivers since 2012.
The lawsuit claims that the group preyed on small trucking companies and individual owner-operators and convinced them to pay exorbitant fees to renew their federal motor carrier registrations.
The group charged drivers up to $550 more than the normal government fee for registration and even charged for some services that are free, like deactivating a USDOT registration.
Although the registrations were valid, the FTC claims the group falsely represented themselves as a government agency and threatened drivers with large fines and penalties if they did not use their services. The group operates several websites that look and sound like official government entities, including DOTAuthority.com and DoTFilings.com
“As noted in the FTC’s complaint, the defendants used official-sounding names, official-looking websites, warnings of $1,000 in civil penalties or fines for non-compliance, and threats of imminent law enforcement to trick consumers into using their registration services instead of using official government website services,” the lawsuit reads.
In addition, customers who used their registration services were automatically and unknowingly signed up for the group’s “SafeRenew” program, which would automatically charge drivers the high registration fees every year.
The group used “misleading robocalls, emails, and text message” to market their services, the FTC reported.
The preliminary injunction was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida. You can read the full injucition here.