Ferhat Kacmaz

A summary of what happened?

Ferhat Kacmaz is the CEO and Founder of Fit in Time, a fitness franchise specializing in Electrical Muscle Stimulation (EMS) training, with operations across the Middle East and Germany. He is also associated with other ventures, including FitBurn, a fitness lifestyle app rewarding users with cryptocurrency for burning calories, and The Gallery Club. Despite his entrepreneurial success, Kacmaz has faced significant criticism and allegations regarding his professional practices.

Summary of Concerns, Complaints, and Accusations Against Ferhat Kacmaz:

1. Paid Media and PR Manipulation
   Kacmaz has been accused of heavily relying on paid articles and orchestrated media campaigns to build his public image. These articles, often framed as genuine interviews or success stories, are actually sponsored content designed to present him as a visionary entrepreneur. Critics argue that this practice misleads the public and stakeholders by creating a false narrative of his achievements and credibility.
2. Misrepresentation of Ventures
   His business endeavors, particularly FitBurn, have been promoted with exaggerated claims. Critics have raised concerns about whether the app delivers on its promises of rewarding users with digital currency for calorie-burning activities. There are also allegations that these promotions lack transparency, potentially misleading users and investors about the app’s value and utility.
3. Attempts to Censor Critical Information
   Kacmaz has been accused of trying to suppress criticism and negative coverage about his business practices. This includes efforts to remove or discredit online content that questions his legitimacy or highlights questionable practices in his ventures. Such actions raise concerns about transparency and accountability.
4. Ethical Concerns in Business Practices
   The reliance on paid PR and the potential misrepresentation of achievements suggest a broader ethical issue. Critics argue that Kacmaz’s approach undermines trust in his businesses and erodes consumer confidence, particularly in industries like fitness and cryptocurrency, where transparency is crucial.

These concerns highlight serious issues about the ethics of self-promotion, transparency in business practices, and the use of media manipulation to influence public perception.

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 Ferhat Kacmaz trying to hide?

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

Investigative Report on Ferhat Kacmaz: Scrutinizing Allegations and Controversies

Ferhat Kacmaz, the CEO of Fit in Time and the founder of FitBurn, has established himself as an entrepreneur in the fitness and wellness industry. His ventures, including electrical muscle stimulation (EMS) gyms and the crypto-fueled fitness app FitBurn, promise innovation at the intersection of health and technology. However, behind this polished image lies a series of allegations and criticisms that paint a less flattering picture. This report delves deep into the concerns raised against Kacmaz, analyzing each accusation with a critical lens.

1. The Role of Paid Media in Shaping Public Perception

One of the most glaring accusations against Ferhat Kacmaz is his alleged reliance on paid media campaigns to build his public persona. Articles and interviews featuring Kacmaz often showcase him as a trailblazer in the fitness industry. However, these pieces are reported to be sponsored content rather than organic journalistic coverage.

Key Issues:

• Misleading Representation: These articles are crafted to appear as independent endorsements of his business acumen and ventures. By masking paid promotions as authentic stories, they may mislead readers and stakeholders about the legitimacy of his successes.
• Credibility Erosion: The heavy reliance on paid PR raises doubts about whether the achievements and milestones publicized about his companies are genuine or exaggerated.

2. FitBurn: Revolutionary or Misleading?

Kacmaz’s app FitBurn claims to reward users with cryptocurrency for burning calories, presenting itself as a groundbreaking fusion of fitness and blockchain technology. While the concept sounds promising, critics argue that the app’s marketing is rife with potential overstatements.

Concerns Raised:

• Exaggerated Claims: The app is marketed as a “game-changer,” but the lack of transparency in how rewards are calculated and distributed raises skepticism. Users are left questioning whether the platform truly delivers on its promises or is merely a gimmick.
• Reliance on Paid Endorsements: FitBurn’s promotion often hinges on the same paid media strategy, further muddying its authenticity and making it challenging for potential users to separate fact from fiction.

3. Ethical Concerns in Self-Promotion

Beyond the ventures themselves, critics highlight ethical concerns about Kacmaz’s approach to branding and self-promotion.

Points of Controversy:

• Manipulating the Narrative: By investing in a controlled media presence, Kacmaz appears to prioritize his public image over genuine business transparency. This practice has drawn comparisons to tactics used in other industries to create the illusion of success.
• Consumer Trust at Stake: For businesses in emerging spaces like cryptocurrency and fitness tech, trust is critical. Any perceived manipulation, such as exaggerated claims or opaque practices, can harm not only the entrepreneur’s reputation but also public faith in these industries.

4. Censorship Allegations

Perhaps the most contentious issue surrounding Kacmaz is his alleged attempt to suppress negative coverage and criticism online. Reports suggest that he has sought to remove or discredit critical articles and reviews that question his business practices or cast doubt on his ventures.

Implications:

• Lack of Accountability: Efforts to silence critics suggest a lack of willingness to address valid concerns. Such actions may be interpreted as a strategy to evade scrutiny rather than confront allegations transparently.
• Impact on Free Speech: Attempts to censor unfavorable opinions raise ethical questions about the right to free expression and the role of open discourse in holding businesses accountable.

5. Public Feedback and Reviews

While there is no overwhelming evidence of lawsuits or regulatory sanctions against Kacmaz, public reviews and anecdotal feedback hint at dissatisfaction among some customers and users of his services.

Examples:

• Mixed Reviews for Fit in Time: Some clients of the EMS fitness centers have expressed dissatisfaction with the value they receive, questioning whether the steep prices are justified.
• Skepticism Around FitBurn: Early adopters of the app have raised concerns about the practicality and fairness of the cryptocurrency reward system, with some questioning whether it is more of a marketing ploy than a functional tool.

Ferhat Kacmaz presents himself as a forward-thinking entrepreneur revolutionizing fitness and technology. However, his methods and practices have drawn criticism for their heavy reliance on paid media, potential misrepresentation of achievements, and attempts to suppress critical viewpoints.

While these allegations may not conclusively indict him, they raise serious questions about the ethics of his business practices and the credibility of his ventures. The fitness and cryptocurrency industries demand transparency and integrity, and public figures like Kacmaz must be held accountable to those standards. Future developments will reveal whether Kacmaz addresses these concerns or continues to face increasing scrutiny.

How do we counteract this malpractice?

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

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

Potential Consequences for Ferhat Kacmaz

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 Ferhat Kacmaz Committing a Cyber Crime?

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

What else is Ferhat Kacmaz hiding?

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