WEST COAST DESIGN CENTER, INC

A summary of what happened?

West Coast Design Center, Inc., incorporated in California in 1993, operates under the trade name American Design Center and specializes in furniture and home furnishing wholesale. The company is located at 3350 Sports Arena Blvd, Suite L, San Diego, CA 92110.

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 WEST COAST DESIGN CENTER, INC trying to hide?

WEST COAST DESIGN CENTER, INC‘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 WEST COAST DESIGN CENTER, INC in legal accountability. Let’s examine the information WEST COAST DESIGN CENTER, INC may be trying to remove from the internet –

Investigative Report: West Coast Design Center, Inc. – Allegations, Complaints, and Controversies

Introduction

West Coast Design Center, Inc., incorporated in California in 1993, operates under the trade name American Design Center and is headquartered at 3350 Sports Arena Blvd, Suite L, San Diego, CA 92110. Specializing in furniture and home furnishing wholesale, the company has remained relatively low-profile over its years of operation. However, concerns have been raised regarding transparency and attempts to manage its public-facing records, including allegations related to efforts to suppress or conceal its corporate history. This report investigates the available records, controversies, and concerns associated with West Coast Design Center, Inc.

1. Overview of the Company

Corporate Background

• Incorporation Details:
  • Registered in California in 1993 under C1723172.
  • Operates as a wholesale furniture and home furnishings business.
• Primary Location:
  • Based in San Diego, California, with activities primarily linked to the wholesale and retail sectors.
• Trade Name:
  • Often referred to as American Design Center in public records and business directories.

2. Allegations and Complaints

2.1. Allegations of Concealment and Censorship

• Alleged Attempts to Suppress Corporate Data:
  • Reports suggest that West Coast Design Center, Inc. sought to suppress or obscure public-facing information about its incorporation and historical records. This is particularly evident in its alleged attempts to influence data hosted on platforms like OpenCorporates, which provides transparency on corporate registrations.
• Implications:
  • The lack of clear information about these alleged actions raises concerns about potential motives, including obscuring ties to litigation, financial challenges, or other controversies.

2.2. Customer Complaints and Negative Reviews

• Customer Grievances:
  • Although formal complaints appear limited, some reviews and feedback highlight dissatisfaction with service quality, product availability, and customer support.
  • Concerns include delays in fulfilling orders and inconsistent communication with clients.
• Lack of Public Feedback:
  • Notably, the company’s digital footprint lacks a robust presence of customer reviews or testimonials, which may indicate limited engagement with public forums.

3. Transparency and Operational Concerns

3.1. Minimal Online Presence

• The company maintains a limited online presence, making it difficult to assess its operations, customer engagement, and transparency in business dealings.
• Lack of readily available corporate information can be a red flag for prospective partners or customers seeking accountability.

3.2. Questions About Corporate Practices

• Attempts to Limit Public Disclosures:
  • Alleged efforts to influence or suppress information on OpenCorporates have led to speculation about the company’s desire to limit public scrutiny.
  • This pattern can undermine trust and raise questions about the company’s adherence to ethical business practices.

4. Public Records and Legal Issues

Legal History

• No direct lawsuits or legal actions involving West Coast Design Center, Inc. are currently listed in publicly available court records.
• However, the absence of such records does not preclude the possibility of private disputes or settlements that remain undocumented.

Corporate Compliance

• Registered as active with the California Secretary of State, the company’s filings suggest compliance with basic corporate regulations.

5. Broader Implications

Transparency in Wholesale Businesses

• Companies in the wholesale and retail sectors benefit from maintaining transparent and accessible public profiles. Allegations of concealment, even if unsubstantiated, can harm reputations and deter potential customers or partners.
• The importance of clear communication and robust digital engagement is critical for maintaining trust in an increasingly online-driven marketplace.

Impact of Limited Reviews

• A scarcity of reviews and feedback from customers or partners may reflect limited reach or deliberate efforts to avoid public scrutiny, both of which could hinder long-term growth and trustworthiness.

6. Recommendations for Stakeholders

For Potential Customers and Partners

• Conduct Due Diligence:
  • Verify the company’s business practices through direct engagement and third-party references.
• Request Transparency:
  • Seek clear terms and conditions regarding transactions, delivery timelines, and product quality.

For West Coast Design Center, Inc.

• Enhance Public Engagement:
  • Develop a more robust online presence and encourage customer feedback to build trust.
• Clarify Allegations:
  • Address concerns about censorship and transparency to reassure stakeholders of ethical practices.
• Improve Communication:
  • Foster better communication with clients and partners to prevent grievances and enhance satisfaction.

Conclusion

West Coast Design Center, Inc. operates within a competitive wholesale market but faces challenges in maintaining transparency and fostering trust. Allegations of concealment and limited public engagement have raised concerns about its business practices, even in the absence of formal lawsuits or documented misconduct. Moving forward, the company’s ability to address these concerns proactively will determine its reputation and sustainability in an increasingly transparent and accountability-driven marketplace.

How do we counteract this malpractice?

Once we ascertain the involvement of WEST COAST DESIGN CENTER, INC (or actors working on behalf of WEST COAST DESIGN CENTER, INC), we will inform WEST COAST DESIGN CENTER, INC of our findings via Electronic Mail.

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

Potential Consequences for WEST COAST DESIGN CENTER, INC

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 WEST COAST DESIGN CENTER, INC Committing a Cyber Crime?

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

What else is WEST COAST DESIGN CENTER, INC hiding?

We encourage you to ‘Dork‘ Google by searching for keyword combinations such as [WEST COAST DESIGN CENTER, INC] + {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 WEST COAST DESIGN CENTER, INC 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.