New York City’s Department of Consumer and Worker Protection has filed an enforcement action against two Brooklyn dental operations, alleging a pattern of deceptive advertising, insurance obstruction, and unauthorized enrollment of patients in high-interest medical credit products.
The suit against Koorosh Shamtoub, D.D.S., P.C., doing business as Canarsie Family Dentistry, and New York Family Dentistry, which operates multiple locations in southeast Brooklyn alleges violations of the city’s Consumer Protection Law, which prohibits deceptive and unconscionable trade practices, including in the collection of consumer debts.
According to the complaint, the practices advertised $99 emergency visits and broad insurance acceptance, then told patients once they were in the chair that recommended treatments were not covered. Staff allegedly refused to submit insurance claims, withheld procedure codes needed for reimbursement, and steered patients toward third-party financing products such as CareCredit and Alphaeon Credit, with APRs as high as 26.99%. In several instances, the city alleges, staff opened credit accounts without patients’ knowledge, including one case in which an account was opened after the patient’s initial application had been denied.
The downstream debt collection activity features prominently in the complaint. One 72-year-old patient’s account was placed with a collection operation after she was allegedly enrolled in a roughly $4,800 loan she believed was an in-office payment plan. A 77-year-old patient was sued by a different collector for approximately $5,291 on a CareCredit account she says she never authorized. The city’s requested relief includes rescission or voiding of financing obligations obtained through deceptive practices, an outcome that would directly affect account holders and any downstream purchasers of that paper.
The case also signals the enforcement posture of DCWP under Commissioner Samuel Levine, who previously led the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection.
Penalties run from $350 to $2,500 per violation, and up to $3,500 for knowing violations. DCWP alleges more than 300 violations across four causes of action. Canarsie Family Dentistry denied the allegations in a statement made in a published report; New York Family Dentistry did not respond to a request for comment.
