Ecom Brothers

A summary of what happened?

The “Ecom Brothers,” known as the “Ecom Testvérek” in Hungary, are two half-Italian, half-Hungarian siblings who have gained significant attention for their e-commerce ventures and educational programs. They promote a lifestyle of financial freedom through dropshipping and online business strategies, often showcasing luxury lifestyles in their promotional materials. However, their operations have attracted scrutiny and criticism, leading to several concerns and allegations.

Major Concerns and Allegations Against Ecom Brothers:

1. Questionable Business Practices:
   • Investigations by Hungarian financial news outlets have raised doubts about the legitimacy of the Ecom Brothers’ business model. Their approach, which heavily promotes dropshipping as a quick path to wealth, has been criticized for oversimplifying the complexities and challenges associated with e-commerce.
     Penzcentrum
2. High-Priced Courses with Unverified Value:
   • The Ecom Brothers offer a five-part course priced at €1,500 (approximately 575,000 HUF), claiming to teach the secrets of successful dropshipping. Critics argue that the information provided is readily available for free online and question whether the course justifies its high cost.
     Penzcentrum
3. Aggressive Marketing and Lifestyle Portrayal:
   • Their marketing materials often depict a lavish lifestyle, including luxury cars and exotic locations, which some view as a tactic to lure individuals into purchasing their courses with unrealistic expectations of achieving similar success.
     Penzcentrum
4. Legal Challenges and Content Removal:
   • Investigative videos and articles examining the Ecom Brothers’ operations have faced removal from platforms like YouTube due to copyright claims, leading to concerns about transparency and potential suppression of critical content.
     Penzcentrum

The Ecom Brothers have positioned themselves as successful e-commerce entrepreneurs offering valuable insights into dropshipping. However, their methods and the efficacy of their high-priced courses have been subjects of debate. Potential customers are advised to exercise caution, conduct thorough research, and consider the availability of free resources before investing in such programs.

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 Ecom Brothers trying to hide?

Ecom Brothers‘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 Ecom Brothers in legal accountability. Let’s examine the information Ecom Brothers may be trying to remove from the internet –

The Truth Behind Ecom Brothers: Business Success or Controversy?

The Ecom Brothers, a pair of young entrepreneurs who claim to have started their e-commerce journey at the ages of 15 and 16, have garnered significant attention for their alleged successes in the world of online business. Specializing in the dropshipping model, the duo markets their expertise through a premium online course priced at €1,500 (approximately $1,600 USD). While their story resonates with many aspiring entrepreneurs, their business practices and methods have drawn scrutiny and controversy.

The Ecom Brothers’ Business Model

At its core, the Ecom Brothers operate using the dropshipping model. This method involves selling products online without holding inventory; instead, items are shipped directly from the supplier to the customer. While dropshipping can be a lucrative business, it is also a saturated and highly competitive market.

The Ecom Brothers have built their brand around teaching others to replicate their success. Their course promises to guide participants in setting up a dropshipping business, with claims of achieving financial independence and significant profits.

Concerns and Allegations

Despite their rising popularity, critics and investigative reports have raised serious concerns regarding their operations:

1. Questionable Course Value
   Several participants of the Ecom Brothers’ €1,500 course have expressed dissatisfaction, stating that the content provided is largely generic and lacks actionable insights. Reviews suggest that much of the material consists of readily available information that could be accessed for free or at a significantly lower cost.
2. High Entry Costs
   Beyond the course fee, participants must also cover expenses for advertising, e-commerce platforms, and product sourcing, making the total cost of starting a business much higher than advertised. This has led some to question whether the Ecom Brothers’ program preys on the financially vulnerable with promises of quick wealth.
3. Transparency Issues
   Investigations by Pénzcentrum, a Hungarian financial news outlet, revealed that the Ecom Brothers have not provided verifiable evidence of their claimed multi-million-dollar successes. This has fueled speculation about whether their wealth comes primarily from dropshipping or from selling courses to hopeful entrepreneurs.
4. Negative Publicity and Complaints
   Reports suggest a pattern of disgruntled customers who feel misled by the Ecom Brothers’ marketing strategies. Complaints range from exaggerated advertising claims to inadequate support and guidance for course participants.
5. Possible Regulatory Concerns
   The dropshipping industry, including training programs like the Ecom Brothers’, is increasingly under scrutiny by consumer protection agencies. Accusations of misleading advertising or failure to deliver on promises could attract legal and regulatory consequences.

Industry Context

The dropshipping model, while appealing, is often criticized for its risks and low-profit margins. Many training programs, including those offered by the Ecom Brothers, promise outsized returns with minimal effort, which is rarely the reality for most participants. Moreover, the saturated market means that new entrants face stiff competition, often making it challenging to achieve significant success.

Public Reaction and Online Presence

The Ecom Brothers have a strong presence on social media platforms, where they showcase a luxurious lifestyle as a testament to their success. However, this image has drawn skepticism, with some critics accusing them of using these displays to lure in unsuspecting buyers for their courses. Online forums and review sites feature mixed feedback, with some praising the duo’s motivational content, while others label them as opportunistic.

Conclusions and Implications

The Ecom Brothers represent a growing trend of entrepreneurs capitalizing on the aspirational dreams of others through online courses and business mentorships. While their story of youthful success is compelling, the controversies surrounding their methods highlight the need for due diligence by prospective customers.

Regulators and watchdogs are increasingly focusing on the transparency and ethical practices of such programs. For the Ecom Brothers, maintaining credibility will require greater transparency about their achievements and ensuring that their services genuinely deliver value to their customers.

Until these issues are addressed, their business will remain a polarizing topic, viewed by some as a beacon of entrepreneurial spirit and by others as a cautionary tale in the ever-evolving landscape of e-commerce.

How do we counteract this malpractice?

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

Our preliminary assessment suggests that Ecom Brothers may have engaged a third-party reputation management agency or expert, which, either independently or under direct authorization from Ecom Brothers, initiated efforts to remove adverse online content, including potentially fraudulent DMCA takedown requests. We will extend an opportunity to Ecom Brothers 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 Ecom Brothers 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 Ecom Brothers is finding out the hard way.

Potential Consequences for Ecom Brothers

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 Ecom Brothers Committing a Cyber Crime?

Yes, it seems so. Ecom Brothers 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. Ecom Brothers 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 Ecom Brothers 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. Ecom Brothers 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 Ecom Brothers 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, Ecom Brothers either premeditated actions or were unaware of the consequences. Despite hiring an agency to make Google disregard any negative information about Ecom Brothers, 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. Ecom Brothers is in great company ….

What else is Ecom Brothers hiding?

We encourage you to ‘Dork‘ Google by searching for keyword combinations such as [Ecom Brothers] + {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 Ecom Brothers 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.