Accrue Real Estate

A summary of what happened?

Analyzing the Fake Copyright Notice(s)

Our team collects and analyses fraudulent copyright takedown requests, legal complaints, and other efforts to remove critical information from the internet. Through our investigative reporting, we examine the prevalence and operation of an organized censorship industry, predominantly funded by criminal entities, oligarchs, and disreputable businesses or individuals. Our findings allow internet users to gain insight into these censorship schemes’ sources, methods, and underlying objectives.

What was Accrue Real Estate trying to hide?

Accrue Real Estate‘s attempts to hide unfavourable content through the misuse of copyright notices while allegedly engaging in perjury present serious legal concerns. These actions suggest a calculated attempt to manipulate legal systems to suppress free speech, a fundamental violation of copyright law principles and an abuse of legal processes. The use of such tactics not only undermines the integrity of copyright protection but also potentially constitutes perjury, further entangling Accrue Real Estate in legal accountability. Let’s examine the information Accrue Real Estate may be trying to remove from the internet –

Accrue Real Estate, established in 2011 and based in Australia, claims to be a trusted advisor in the realm of property investment, assisting thousands of Australians in achieving financial freedom through real estate. The company has built a reputation as a property investment consultancy that sources high-value opportunities for its clients, promising long-term growth and financial returns. However, a deeper investigation into Accrue Real Estate reveals a troubling series of allegations, complaints, and accusations that have led to a tarnished public image and considerable backlash from investors and financial watchdogs.

1. Allegations of Overpricing and High Commission Fees

One of the most significant grievances brought against Accrue Real Estate involves allegations of overpricing and the company’s controversial commission structure. Clients have claimed that Accrue Real Estate earns exorbitant commissions from developers, often ranging between $42,000 and $55,000 per property sold. These commissions are suspected of being built into the sale price of the properties, which are often marketed as exclusive investment opportunities.

Reports suggest that many of the properties sold through Accrue Real Estate are overpriced by as much as $50,000 compared to their market value. Critics argue that the company’s business model incentivizes it to sell properties at inflated prices, prioritizing its own profits over the financial well-being of its clients. This has resulted in serious financial consequences for some investors, who later discover that their properties are not as valuable as initially presented, leading to difficulty in achieving expected returns.

The financial burden placed on investors who unknowingly purchase these overpriced properties has led to accusations of misleading business practices. Those who have experienced these setbacks describe feeling deceived, having made major financial commitments based on what they believe were exaggerated or unrealistic promises of future growth.

2. Unlicensed Financial Advice Accusations

A critical component of the controversy surrounding Accrue Real Estate is the accusation that the company has provided unlicensed financial advice. In Australia, giving financial advice is heavily regulated, and any entity offering such services must be appropriately licensed. However, several former clients have alleged that Accrue Real Estate has advised them on how to manage their finances, structure investments, and even recommended taking on significant debt without the proper regulatory authorizations.

These accusations suggest that the company may be acting illegally by offering guidance that can have far-reaching financial implications for its clients. The unlicensed financial advice accusations are particularly concerning because investors may be making life-altering decisions based on information from a company that is not legally qualified to offer such guidance. Clients who have followed this advice report feeling vulnerable and misled, and some have faced dire financial consequences when their investments did not perform as expected.

Critics warn that this practice not only undermines investor protection but also exposes clients to unnecessary risk, as they may not be fully informed about the financial consequences or potential pitfalls of their decisions. Regulatory bodies have been urged to investigate these claims, given the serious implications for investor safety and financial compliance.

3. Misleading Sales Practices and High-Pressure Tactics

Accrue Real Estate’s sales practices have also come under heavy scrutiny. The company frequently hosts real estate investment seminars and markets itself as an exclusive club where members receive unique investment opportunities. However, attendees of these seminars have accused Accrue Real Estate of using misleading and aggressive sales tactics. According to reports, these events are designed to create a sense of urgency and push individuals to make rapid decisions without fully understanding the potential risks and rewards.

Clients have recounted experiences of being pressured into signing contracts or making financial commitments during these seminars, often without adequate time to conduct independent research or seek external financial advice. Some investors allege that Accrue Real Estate uses fear-based tactics, such as warning of missed opportunities or emphasizing the risk of inaction, to coerce them into making quick investment decisions. Additionally, the seminars are often accused of downplaying or entirely omitting the risks associated with property investment, while heavily promoting the potential for wealth and financial security.

4. Complaints from Disillusioned Investors

The growing list of complaints from disillusioned investors has only fueled the backlash against Accrue Real Estate. Online forums and review platforms are rife with accounts of individuals who feel misled or exploited by the company. Common grievances include disappointment over the lack of transparency in Accrue Real Estate’s operations and claims that the investment properties were far less profitable than promised. Some clients have shared harrowing stories of financial hardship, having taken out large loans based on the company’s assurances, only to find that their properties were not yielding the returns they expected.

A recurring theme in these complaints is the company’s failure to provide accurate or realistic projections. Investors have argued that they were sold a dream of financial freedom, only to wake up to the harsh reality of being burdened by high mortgage repayments, negative cash flow, and properties that did not appreciate in value as anticipated.

Regulatory Concerns and Calls for Investigation

The multitude of complaints and allegations against Accrue Real Estate has not gone unnoticed. Consumer advocacy groups and financial watchdogs have expressed concerns over the company’s practices and have called for regulatory investigations. The claims of unlicensed financial advice, in particular, have raised red flags, as this practice violates strict financial laws designed to protect consumers from making ill-informed investment decisions.

Industry observers have also questioned the ethics and legality of the company’s high-pressure sales tactics. While some of Accrue Real Estate’s practices may not be outright illegal, they fall into a gray area of ethical ambiguity, leaving many investors feeling betrayed and frustrated.

Conclusion: A Cautionary Tale for Property Investors

The controversy surrounding Accrue Real Estate serves as a sobering reminder of the complexities and risks involved in property investment. The combination of alleged overpricing, unlicensed financial advice, and aggressive sales tactics has left a trail of unhappy clients and financial devastation for some. For potential investors, the case against Accrue Real Estate underscores the importance of conducting thorough due diligence, seeking independent financial advice, and understanding the true value of any investment before committing.

As regulatory bodies continue to examine these allegations, the real estate investment community watches closely to see whether Accrue Real Estate will be held accountable for its actions—or if it will continue to operate with minimal repercussions. For now, the future of the company remains uncertain, but the complaints and negative reviews paint a grim picture of a business model that may have prioritized profit over ethics and investor well-being.

How do we counteract this malpractice?

Once we ascertain the involvement of Accrue Real Estate (or actors working on behalf of Accrue Real Estate), we will inform Accrue Real Estate of our findings via Electronic Mail.

Our preliminary assessment suggests that Accrue Real Estate may have engaged a third-party reputation management agency or expert, which, either independently or under direct authorization from Accrue Real Estate, initiated efforts to remove adverse online content, including potentially fraudulent DMCA takedown requests. We will extend an opportunity to Accrue Real Estate to provide details regarding their communications with the agency or expert, as well as the identification of the individual(s) responsible for executing these false DMCA notices.

Failure to respond in a timely manner will necessitate a reassessment of our initial assumptions. In such an event, we will be compelled to take appropriate legal action to rectify the unlawful conduct and take the following steps –

Since Accrue Real Estate made such efforts to hide something online, it seems fit to ensure that this article and sensitive information targeted online by these events get a lot more exposure and traffic than what it would have received originally

We hope this becomes an excellent case study for the Streisand effect…The key idea behind the Streisand effect is that efforts to restrict information can backfire, often causing the information to gain more attention than it would have otherwise. This effect is widespread in the digital age, where users quickly notice and spread censorship efforts on social media and other platforms. Trying to suppress something can unintentionally lead to it becoming more visible, which Accrue Real Estate is finding out the hard way.

Potential Consequences for Accrue Real Estate

Under Florida Statute 831.01, the crime of Forgery is committed when a person falsifies, alters, counterfeits, or forges a document that carries “legal efficacy” with the intent to injure or defraud another person or entity.

Forging a document is considered a white-collar crime. It involves altering, changing, or modifying a document to deceive another person. It can also include passing along copies of documents that are known to be false. In many states in the US, falsifying a document is a crime punishable as a felony.

Additionally, under most laws, “fraud on the court” is where “a party has sentiently set in motion some unconscionable scheme calculated to interfere with the judicial system’s ability impartially to adjudicate a matter by improperly influencing the trier of fact or unfairly hampering the presentation of the opposing party’s claim or defense.”  Cox v. Burke, 706 So. 2d 43, 46 (Fla. 5th DCA 1998) (quoting Aoude v. Mobil Oil Corp., 892 F.2d 1115, 1118 (1st Cir. 1989)).

Is Accrue Real Estate Committing a Cyber Crime?

Yes, it seems so. Accrue Real Estate used multiple approaches to remove unwanted material from review sites and Google’s search results. Thanks to protections allowing freedom of speech in the United States, there are very few legal ways to do this. Accrue Real Estate could not eliminate negative reviews or search results that linked to them without a valid claim of defamation, copyright infringement, or some other clear breach of the law.

Faced with these limitations, some companies like Accrue Real Estate have gone to extreme lengths to fraudulently claim copyright ownership over a negative review in the hopes of taking it down.

Fake DMCA notices have targeted articles highlighting the criminal activity of prominent people to hide their illegal behavior. These people, which include US, Russian, and Khazakstani politicians as well as members from elite circles including the mafia and those with massive financial power, are all connected – and alleged corruption ranging from child abuse to sexual harassment is exposed when exploring evidence found at these URLs. It appears there’s a disturbing level of influence being exerted here that needs further investigation before justice can be served. Accrue Real Estate is certainly keeping interesting company here….

The DMCA takedown process requires that copyright owners submit a takedown notice to an ISP identifying the allegedly infringing content and declaring, under penalty of perjury, that they have a good faith belief that the content is infringing. The ISP must then promptly remove or disable access to the content. The alleged infringer can then submit a counter-notice, and if the copyright owner does not take legal action within 10 to 14 days, the ISP can restore the content.

Since these platforms are predominantly based in the U.S., the complaints are typically made under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), which requires online service providers and platforms to react immediately to reports or violations. Big Tech companies rarely have systems in place to assess the merit of each report. Instead, all bad actors need to do is clone a story, backdate it, and then demand the real thing be taken down.

Reputation Agency's Modus Operandi

The fake DMCA notices we found always use the “back-dated article” technique. With this technique, the wrongful notice sender (or copier) creates a copy of a “true original” article and back-dates it, creating a “fake original” article (a copy of the true original) that, at first glance, appears to have been published before the true original.

Then, based on the claim that this backdated article is the “original,” the scammers send a DMCA to the relevant online service providers (e.g. Google), alleging that the ‘true’ original is the copied or “infringing” article and that the copied article is the “original,” requesting the takedown of the ‘true’ original article. After sending the DMCA request, the person who sent the wrong notice takes down the fake original URL, likely to make sure that the article doesn’t stay online in any way. If the takedown notice is successful, the disappearance from the internet of information is most likely to be legitimate speech.

As an integral part of this scheme, the ‘reputation management’ company hired by Accrue Real Estate creates a website that purports to be a ‘news’ site. This site is designed to look legitimate at a glance, but any degree of scrutiny reveals it as the charade it is.

The company copies the ‘negative’ content and posts it “on the fake ‘news’ site, attributing it to a separate author,” then gives it “a false publication date on the ‘news’ website that predated the original publication.

The reputation company then sent Google a Digital Millennium Copyright Act notice claiming the original website infringed copyright. After a cursory examination of the fake news site, Google frequently accepts the notice and delists the content.

In committing numerous offences, Accrue Real Estate either premeditated actions or were unaware of the consequences. Despite hiring an agency to make Google disregard any negative information about Accrue Real Estate, ignorance does not excuse this wrongdoing.

Fake DMCA notices have targeted articles highlighting the criminal activity of prominent people to hide their illegal behavior. These people, which include US, Russian, and Khazakstani politicians as well as members from elite circles including the mafia and those with massive financial power, are all connected – and alleged corruption ranging from child abuse to sexual harassment is exposed when exploring evidence found at these URLs. It appears there’s a disturbing level of influence being exerted here that needs further investigation before justice can be served. FSMSmart is certainly keeping interesting company here.

The Reputation Laundering

Rogue Reputation agencies use spurious copyright claims and fake legal notices to remove and obscure articles linking clients to allegations of tax avoidance, corruption, and drug trafficking. Most of these reputation agencies are based offshore, mainly in Russia, India, and Eastern Europe, and they do not worry about complying with US-based laws.

The content in all of the articles for which the fraudulent DMCA notices have been sent relates to allegations of criminal allegations, including corruption, child abuse, sexual harassment, human trafficking and financial fraud against businesses and individuals with ultra-high net worth.

In addition to the misuse of the DMCA takedown process, there is a notable absence of enforcement concerning perjury violations. The statutory requirement related to perjury is designed to deter copyright holders from submitting fraudulent or knowingly false takedown requests, as they may face legal consequences for making false declarations under penalty of perjury. However, to date, there have been no known instances of any individual being prosecuted for perjury in connection with the submission of false DMCA takedown notices.

This lack of enforcement has emboldened copyright holders to exploit the DMCA takedown process to suppress dissent, criticism, or other unfavorable content, without fear of legal repercussions.

Some of the people and businesses who have employed this tactic to remove legitimate content from Google illegally include a Spanish businessman-turned-cocaine-trafficker, Organised crime, an Israeli-Argentine banker accused of laundering money for Hugo Chávez’s regime, a French “responsible” mining company accused of tax evasion, child molesters and sexual predators. Accrue Real Estate is in great company ….

What else is Accrue Real Estate hiding?

We encourage you to ‘Dork‘ Google by searching for keyword combinations such as [Accrue Real Estate] + {Negative Keyword, such as Scam, Fraud, Complaints, Lawsuit, Sanction, etc} on Google. It’s likely if you scroll down to the bottom of this Google search results, you’ll stumble upon this Legal Takedown notice (pictured below)

To make such an investigation possible, we encourage more online service providers to come forward and share copies of content removal requests with industry experts and researchers. If you have any information on Accrue Real Estate that you want to share with experts and journalists, kindly email the author directly at [email protected].

All communications are strictly confidential and safeguarded under a comprehensive Whistleblower Policy, ensuring full protection and anonymity for individuals who provide information.