The lead generation industry took a hit to its reputation, but this is not the first time.
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The Bene Market Group
Last month, federal prosecutors unsealed a 44-page indictment against four men and two companies operating as the “Bene Market Group.” This boiler room telemarketing outfit operated under various names. Their pitch? Discount health and dental plans. Their reality? A multi-year bait-and-switch operation that misled tens of thousands of consumers into buying plans that weren’t insurance at all, in some cases, not even close.
Consumers were led to believe they were purchasing major medical insurance from top-rated national carriers. They were being sold limited-benefit plans with minimal coverage, often bundled and disguised to look like real insurance. When customers later attempted to utilize these plans for serious health needs, they found themselves faced with massive medical bills and no coverage. Some were left in debt for tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars.
ITMedia
It would be easy to dismiss that case as an outlier; however, there is also the FTC case against ITMedia Solutions, a lead generator, whose business is to connect people with trustworthy lenders through secure online forms.
They were found not to be protecting their consumer data and lacked any seeding practices in place. If your data is not seeded, it will be much harder to determine if it has been leaked or breached, thereby putting consumers at risk.
“Additionally, ITMedia has no program for investigating whether sensitive consumer information it furnishes to potential purchasers is safeguarded or used for purposes other than offering a loan. For example, “seeding” data by adding unique dummy data is a common technique to detect leaks or breaches in data security, and to monitor how data is being used. ITMedia has the capability to “seed” the consumer information it distributes. Nonetheless, ITMedia has not implemented a program to regularly seed leads to test for security breaches, or to detect how leads are being used by their direct and indirect recipients.”
Despite telling consumers their data would be used to secure loan offers from trusted lenders, the FTC found that this company sold over 84% of these leads to companies that weren’t lenders at all. Some used the data to advertise prepaid debit cards. Others used it for credit repair scams. Many were entirely unknown to this company. Worse still, sensitive data was often sent in the clear to entities that hadn’t received the leads, exposing millions to potential identity theft, phantom debt collections and financial exploitation.
“ITMedia seldom sells the information consumers submit in their loan applications to lenders. Since January 2016, for the overwhelming majority of consumers (i.e., more than 84%) who have submitted loan applications at an ITMedia website, ITMedia has either (i) sold the consumers’ information to entities that are not lenders (including non-lender aggregators, marketers, and companies whose use of the information is unspecified); (ii) used the consumers’ loan applications to create targeted marketing data for telemarketers, email advertisers, and other entities, or (iii) directed the consumers to online advertisements.”
So, what do these two stories have in common?
Lead Generators: It’s Time to Wake Up
They both show what happens when the line between marketing and deception disappears when revenue is prioritized over transparency. When “lead” becomes shorthand for “target,” and when companies in the lead generation industry fail, or refuse, to vet the people and platforms they partner with, or protect consumer data with due diligence.
These aren’t isolated incidents. They are symptoms of a larger, uncomfortable truth: too many players in the lead generation space are willing to look the other way if the checks clear.
That’s not just risky. It’s corrosive. It damages consumers, undermines trust and invites more regulation, the kind that could restrict legitimate lead gen businesses for the sins of the worst actors.
What Comes Next Is Up to Us
We should be furious about this. Not just because of the fraud but because of what it reveals about the standards we have allowed to slip.
If you’re in this industry, whether as a network, platform, buyer or seller, it’s time to ask yourself: Who are you doing business with? What do you really know about them? And how confident are you that they aren’t quietly cutting corners in ways that will eventually catch up to you too?
The good news is that there are tools, processes and partners who can help you vet the companies you work with and spot the red flags before they explode into scandals. Use them. Because if we don’t start leading ourselves and each other to a higher standard, the government will do it for us. And they won’t be gentle about it.
If you need help building a partner vetting process that goes beyond a surface check, consider vetting tools like Assumed. There are affordable, practical ways to stress-test your vendor relationships before your name ends up in a headline or a subpoena.
