A company claiming to have set up a new drug helpline in Ogdensburg is apparently fraudulent.

The company, calling itself Drug Rehab in Ogdensburg but which calls itself different things in different places, has sent out news releases through a contract company claiming to have set up drug rehabilitation helplines in Ogdensburg and several other places around the country.

In Boemia, N.Y. it calls itself Drug Rehab Bohemia.

But local helpline administrators say they have no knowledge of any actual new service having been established in Ogdensburg. The link to the apparently fraudulent site is at www.drugrehab-ogdensburg.com/

"I contacted the directors of the substance abuse agencies in Ogdensburg," said Karen Easter, director of the Potsdam-based helpline Reachout. "As I suspected, they have nothing to do with it."

A link to a story about the alleged Ogdensburg site appears at http://tickerreport.com/press-releases/155233/new-helpline-provides-substance-abuse-recovery-information-for-young-adults and was posted on NorthCountryNow.com last weekend. The link has since been removed from NorthCountryNow.com, except as it appears in this story.

A call by a reporter identifying himself as such to the Ogdensburg number given in the release first asked where they were, and the answerer said they were in West Palm Beach, Fla., but a second question about their service resulted in the answerer hanging up.

We have not determined what their intentions are, but Easter suspects it might be a way for a company to direct callers to a particular rehab business, or as a way to gather information on addicts.

"In any case, no reputable organization promotes itself in such a deceptive manner," Easter said.