People Seeking Help Quitting Nicotine Say New Jersey’s Quitline Link Routed Them to a Scam Pitch Line

CHERRY HILL, NJ—It starts on an official New Jersey government page, then sends desperate people to a quitline website. One tap on “Call Now,” and some callers say they’re hit with “special offers” for people over 50 and prompts to hand over personal information.

If you are trying to quit nicotine, you are doing something hard. You are reaching for help at the exact moment you are most vulnerable. And that is why this is infuriating.

I went looking for legitimate quitting resources for a friend. I started where most people would start: the official New Jersey Department of Health website. From there, the state directs you to the New Jersey Quitline. It looks official. It looks safe. It looks like help.

How it happens

Here is the path:

Step 1: Official NJ Department of Health page: https://www.nj.gov/health/fhs/tobacco/quitting/

The official NJ Department of Health “Get Help Quitting” page directs users to the New Jersey Quitline. Screenshot by Ben Shore / Shore Investigates.

A close-up of the “New Jersey Quitline” section on NJ’s official quitting resources page. Screenshot by Ben Shore / Shore Investigates.

Step 2: Click through to the NJ Quitline site: https://www.njquitline.org

On the NJ Quitline site, a prominent “Call Now” button invites people to get help immediately. Screenshot by Ben Shore / Shore Investigates.

On the NJ Quitline site, there’s a big blue button that says “Call Now.” That button is designed for urgency, for someone who cannot wait, for someone who needs a person on the other end of the line.

But screenshots show the “Call Now” button is coded to dial: tel: 1-866-651-2611.

The call button link appears coded as “tel:18666512611,” which differs from the quitline branding shown on the page. Screenshot by Ben Shore / Shore Investigates.

When I called that number, it did not connect me to quit support. It opened with a recorded pitch. It pushed “special promotions,” including a prompt aimed at older adults, “if you are over 50 press 1,” and rolled into offers like medical alert devices and “free” phones. Then it asked for personal information.

Read that again. A pathway that begins on an official state public health page can lead to a phone line that sounds like a classic data-harvesting pitch aimed at seniors.

This is not a harmless web typo. This is exactly how people get trapped: a trusted government site, a familiar-sounding “quitline,” a giant “Call Now” button, and then pressure to share personal details. The people clicking that button are not shopping. They are trying to quit an addiction. They are stressed, ashamed, scared, determined, exhausted, or all of the above. That is the worst possible moment to route someone into a pitch line.

New Jersey promotes these resources because they are supposed to help. If the call button is sending people somewhere else, it is a betrayal of trust, and it puts vulnerable residents in the crosshairs.

How to protect yourself

If a “quit help” call starts with sales language, “special promotions,” or age-based prompts like “over 50,” hang up. Do not give personal information to any line that is not clearly providing cessation services. Use verified numbers published on official government pages, not whatever a button dials.

The accountability questions

We are seeking comment from the New Jersey Department of Health and whoever controls the NJ Quitline website’s phone link routing. The key questions are simple: Why does the “Call Now” button dial 1-866-651-2611? Who placed that number there, and when? How many people have been routed to it? What is being done right now to stop it from happening again?

If you clicked for quit help and got a pitch line instead, we want to hear from you. Tell us the date and time you called, what number dialed, what the recording said, and whether it asked for personal information.

People looking for help quitting nicotine should get help, not get hunted.