Traffic and Funnels, LLC

Ten to twenty thousand a month, on average

Traffic and Funnels, a Tennessee group of companies, sold a program called The Sales Mentor, pitched as training for the “high demand” field of telemarketing sales.

According to the complaint, the defendants told buyers the program could net incomes of $10,000 to $20,000 per month on average. Their advertising claimed they had “helped over 25,000 people find secure, dependable, consistent and life-changing incomes.” One advertisement said “it’s virtually IMPOSSIBLE NOT to enjoy a job-replacing six-figure income, even part-time.”

They also claimed access to a “waiting list” of companies looking to hire graduates. Often all they had was an outdated list of job openings.

What buyers paid, and got

Packages ranged from $97 to more than $9,000. Buyers complained that the private mentoring promised at the higher tiers was never made available, and that in many cases the higher tiers delivered the same online video series sold at the cheaper ones.

Consumers paid more than $29 million to the defendants while the scheme ran between 2018 and 2022.

The aggravating fact

In 2021 one of the corporate defendants received the FTC’s Notices of Penalty Offenses on money-making opportunities and on endorsements and testimonials, which exist precisely to warn a company that this conduct is illegal. The complaint charges that the deceptive earnings claims continued afterwards.

The orders

Two orders bar all defendants from misleading or unsubstantiated earnings claims and from any misrepresentation in selling any good or service. Taylor Welch turns over $600,000 and Christopher Evans $400,000, a total of $1 million for refunds. The total judgment of $16,363,073.11 against all defendants except Shanks is largely suspended for inability to pay.

In January 2025 the FTC sent more than $960,000 to 8,174 consumers.

What is not established

Stipulated final orders resolve allegations without any admission or finding of wrongdoing.