Vermont will receive $90,000 from Lead Concepts, Inc, a company based in Grapevine, Texas, that generated leads for insurance agents by sending direct mailings to Vermonters, many of them elderly, asking them to return postcards with their age and spouse’s name and age, without explaining how the information would be used. Such activity is a violation of state and federal law. Under the settlement, Lead Concepts will pay the State $90,000 and be required to clearly disclose the purpose of its mailings in the future.
According to Attorney General William Sorrell, the settlement reflects his commitment to ensuring that personal information is not obtained for commercial reasons from seniors and other Vermonters without their informed consent. “Privacy is a core value in Vermont, and I will vigorously enforce the law to protect it,” he said.
During the years 2010-13, Lead Concepts sent thousands of mailings to Vermont consumers. Many of these mailings implied that the sender was simply offering to provide information or a brochure to the recipient, free of charge, using language such as “SENIOR BENEFITS UPDATE… To see if you qualify, mail this postage paid card. You will not be charged for this information!”
In fact, the purpose of the mailings was to persuade consumers to send information—including the ages of the consumer and his or her spouse—to be used by Lead Concepts’ clients, the insurance agents, to market insurance products. Although some mailings expressly disclosed their true commercial purpose, 42,000 of them did not. Lead Concepts estimated that about 420 Vermonters responded by returning a postcard with their information.
Under the settlement, Lead Concepts:
- Must comply strictly with all provisions of Vermont and federal law.
- Refrain from contacting any Vermont consumer, by mail or other means, for the purpose of generating business leads without clearly and conspicuously disclosing the fact that if the consumer responds to the contact, he or she may be solicited to purchase a described product or service (for example, “An agent may contact you to sell insurance products.”).
- Pay the State of Vermont $85,000 and an additional $5,000 to Vermont Adult Protective Services to underwrite the cost of training and maintaining a network of anti-fraud advocates for senior citizens in Vermont.
Vermont AG: Oct 20, 2014