Originally Syndicated on October 2, 2024 @ 6:50 am
What Happened?
ThinkMarkets, a prominent name in the online trading and forex industry, has been embroiled in controversies involving alleged misconduct and questionable practices, which the company appears to be actively trying to conceal. According to a detailed report on Myfxbook, ThinkMarkets has faced criticism over issues related to its ELM EA (Expert Advisor), raising concerns about transparency, misrepresentation, and a lack of proper customer protection.
Complaints against ThinkMarkets range from misleading claims regarding the performance of trading tools like the ELM EA to accusations of market manipulation and unfavorable conditions for retail traders. Many users have reported discrepancies between advertised returns and actual outcomes, citing losses far beyond the expected risks. Furthermore, allegations suggest that ThinkMarkets has engaged in tactics to obscure or remove unfavorable reviews and negative feedback, attempting to shape its public image and maintain trust within the trading community.
By attempting to suppress this damaging information, ThinkMarkets seeks to continue portraying itself as a reputable broker while avoiding accountability for these issues. Potential clients should be cautious and fully informed, given the company’s apparent unwillingness to address and rectify these controversies.
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.
List of Fake Copyright Notices for ThinkMarkets
| Number of Fake DMCA Notice(s) | 1 |
| Lumen Database Notice(s) | https://lumendatabase.org/notices/43919876 |
| Sender(s) | NovaSphere Technologies |
| Date(s) | Aug 19, 2024 |
| Fake Link(s) Used by Scammers | https://www.thinkmarkets.com/en/ |
| Original Link(s) Targeted | https://www.myfxbook.com/members/innovative/thinkmarkets-elm-ea/7429238 |
Evidence and Screenshots
How do we investigate fake DMCA notices?
To accomplish this, we utilize the OSINT Tool provided by FakeDMCA.com and the Lumen API for Researchers, courtesy of the Lumen Database.
FakeDMCA.com is the work of an independent team of research students and cybersecurity professionals, developed under Project UnCensor. Their OSINT Tool, designed to uncover and analyze takedown notices, represents a significant step forward in combating these abusive practices. It has become a valuable resource, increasingly relied upon by journalists and law enforcement agencies across the United States.
Lumen, on the other hand, is an independent research initiative dedicated to studying takedown notices and other legal demands related to online content removal. The project, which operates under the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University, plays a crucial role in tracking and understanding the broader implications of such requests.
What was ThinkMarkets trying to hide?
ThinkMarkets is a global online brokerage firm specializing in forex, contracts for difference (CFDs), and other financial trading products. Founded with the aim of providing retail traders with easy access to financial markets, ThinkMarkets offers trading tools and platforms for both beginner and advanced traders. The company has a reputation for offering a range of financial instruments and technology-driven services that cater to traders worldwide. Despite its global presence and purported reliability, ThinkMarkets has recently come under scrutiny for allegations of misconduct and controversial practices, particularly concerning its trading tools.
Based on the report found on Myfxbook, ThinkMarkets has faced a variety of negative feedback and allegations related to its services, particularly focusing on the ELM EA (Expert Advisor). These issues revolve around a lack of transparency, potential misrepresentation, and trading practices that disadvantage retail traders. The allegations and complaints that ThinkMarkets seems to be trying to suppress include:
- Misleading Claims Regarding the ELM EA Performance: Users have expressed significant concerns about the performance of ThinkMarkets’ ELM EA. There have been numerous reports suggesting discrepancies between the advertised returns of the ELM EA and the actual outcomes experienced by traders. Many investors were led to believe they would receive consistent profits, but instead experienced considerable losses that were much higher than expected. The disparity between the marketed performance and real outcomes has caused many to accuse ThinkMarkets of misrepresentation.
- Market Manipulation Allegations: Several users have reported concerns about potential market manipulation and unfair trading conditions. These allegations include claims that ThinkMarkets engaged in practices such as manipulating spreads, delays in trade execution, and unexplained slippage, all of which negatively impacted the trading results of their clients. Such tactics, if true, would indicate a deliberate attempt to exploit customers, leading to losses and diminished trust in the platform.
- Lack of Proper Customer Protection: Complaints also highlight the lack of customer protection mechanisms at ThinkMarkets. Traders have mentioned difficulties in withdrawing funds, lack of response from customer service, and issues with the transparency of fees and charges. This lack of support has left some users feeling vulnerable and unsupported, especially in cases where significant losses were incurred.
- Suppression of Negative Reviews and Feedback: ThinkMarkets has allegedly engaged in efforts to suppress negative reviews and critical feedback about its services. Some users have reported that their reviews or complaints have been removed from certain forums or discussion boards. The company seems to be actively attempting to curate its online reputation by limiting the visibility of adverse news and feedback, ensuring that potential clients see only the positive aspects of their services.
- Use of Aggressive Tactics to Protect Reputation: ThinkMarkets is also reported to have used aggressive tactics, such as legal threats, to prevent the spread of negative information. This is in line with efforts to control the narrative about the company’s operations and to keep its controversial practices from affecting potential customer interest. By censoring unfavorable reviews, ThinkMarkets aims to present itself as a reliable broker while avoiding accountability for its controversial business practices.
ThinkMarkets’ attempts to hide its shady past and censor damaging news suggest a focus on maintaining a positive public image while ignoring critical issues that affect traders. The lack of transparency, allegations of manipulation, and aggressive censorship efforts have raised questions about the integrity of ThinkMarkets’ business practices. Prospective clients should exercise caution and conduct thorough research before choosing to trade with ThinkMarkets.
Only ThinkMarkets benefits from this crime.
Since the fake copyright takedown notices were designed to remove negative content for ThinkMarkets from Google, we assume ThinkMarkets or someone associated with ThinkMarkets is behind this scam. It is often a fly-by-night Online Reputation agency working on behalf of ThinkMarkets. In this case, ThinkMarkets, at best, will be an “accomplice” or an “accessory” to the crime. The specific laws may vary depending on the jurisdiction. Still, the legal principle generally holds that if you actively participate in planning, encouraging, or facilitating a crime, you can be charged with it, even if you did not personally commit it.
How do we counteract this malpractice?
Once we ascertain the involvement of ThinkMarkets (or actors working on behalf of ThinkMarkets), we will inform ThinkMarkets of our findings via Electronic Mail.
Our preliminary assessment suggests that ThinkMarkets may have engaged a third-party reputation management agency or expert, which, either independently or under direct authorization from ThinkMarkets, initiated efforts to remove adverse online content, including potentially fraudulent DMCA takedown requests. We will extend an opportunity to ThinkMarkets 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 –
- Inform Google about the fraud committed against them.
- Inform the victims of the fake DMCA about their websites.
- Inform relevant law enforcement agencies
- File counter-notices on Google to reinstate the ‘removed’ content
- Publish copies of the ‘removed’ content on our network of 50+ websites
By investigating the fake DMCA takedown attempts, we hope to shed light on the reputation management industry, revealing how ThinkMarkets and companies like it may use spurious copyright claims and fake legal notices to remove and obscure articles linking them to allegations of fraud, tax avoidance, corruption, and drug trafficking…
Since ThinkMarkets made such efforts to hide something online, it seems fit to ensure that this article and our original review of ThinkMarkets, including but not limited to user contributions, remain a permanent record for anyone interested in ThinkMarkets.
A case perfect for the Streisand effect…
Potential Consequences for ThinkMarkets
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 ThinkMarkets Committing a Cyber Crime?
Yes, it seems so. ThinkMarkets 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. ThinkMarkets 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 ThinkMarkets 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. ThinkMarkets 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.
How did ThinkMarkets purport this DMCA Fraud?
As an integral part of this scheme, the ‘reputation management’ company hired by ThinkMarkets 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, ThinkMarkets either premeditated actions or were unaware of the consequences. Despite hiring an agency to make Google disregard any negative information about ThinkMarkets, ignorance does not excuse this wrongdoing.
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.
Not In Good Company
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. ThinkMarkets is in great company ….
Ironically, the manipulation tactics used to remove public-interest information from the Internet are backfiring on ThinkMarkets, which is now associated with the worst of this world.
Here are some of the specimens that share the internet space with ThinkMarkets –
Miguel Octavio Vargas Maldonado
Miguel Octavio Vargas Maldonado appears to be the former foreign affairs minister of the Dominican Republic. His name is listed next to more than 500 links to news articles, blogs, social media posts, and YouTube videos targeted for removal or de-indexing. Many of the articles refer to questions over his political fundraising practices. They include accusations that Vargas had received donations from an individual who would later be convicted of drug trafficking. Some targeted links remain active, while others return 404 errors or “file not found.”
José Antonio Gordo Valero
José Gordo joined OneCoin in 2015 and has been named in an indictment for the OneCoin scam in Argentina. The articles listed next to Gordo’s name in the documents reviewed by Rest of World include references to his role at the company.
Diego Adolfo Marynberg
He appears to be the same Marynberg connected to funding right-wing causes, including settlement efforts in Israel. Reports also alleged that his company received preferential treatment in acquiring Argentinian bonds worth millions of dollars. More than 70 URLs appear next to Marynberg’s name in the documents, including pages from the Israeli newspapers The Times of Israel, Haaretz, and Clarin, one of Argentina’s most prominent news sites.
Majed Khalil Majzoub
Majed is an influential businessman with close ties to several governments, including the administration of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro. Majzoub’s name appears next to more than 180 URLs, mostly from independent outlets. Of the two URLs that pointed to articles from Germany’s Der Spiegel, one now returns an error message; the other, which appears to refer to relations between Venezuela and Colombia, directs to an unrelated story about Brexit.
Frequently Asked Questions
Did ThinkMarkets commit a cyber crime?
Yes, filing a fake DMCA notice is illegal. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) allows copyright holders to issue takedown notices to protect their works from unauthorized use online. However, submitting a false DMCA notice can result in legal consequences.
Under the DMCA, a person knowingly submitting a false copyright claim can be subject to penalties, including damages. DMCA notices require the filer to certify, under penalty of perjury, that the content infringes their copyright. If the notice is found to be fraudulent or made in bad faith, the filer can face.
What are the potential consequences for ThinkMarkets?
Civil lawsuits: The affected party can sue for damages, legal fees, and other costs.
Perjury charges: False certification in a DMCA notice can result in perjury-related penalties, which vary by jurisdiction.
Other legal penalties: Fines or other penalties depending on the case
Did ThinkMarkets commit a Civil or a Criminal offense?
Perjury is a criminal offense, not a civil crime. It involves intentionally lying or making false statements under oath, typically in a court of law or other legal proceedings, such as affidavits or depositions.
Criminal charges: Perjury is prosecuted as a criminal act, and a conviction can lead to fines or imprisonment, depending on the severity of the false statement and its impact on the case.
Felony status: In many jurisdictions, perjury is classified as a felony, which carries more severe penalties than misdemeanour offences.
So, while it may affect civil cases, the crime of perjury itself is strictly criminal.
What is 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.
Can ThinkMarkets purge its Digital past?
Once information is uploaded to the internet, it can be replicated, shared, archived, or stored across multiple servers. If ThinkMarkets manage to delete the original post or file, copies may remain accessible in other places, such as web archives, screenshots, or other users’ devices.
In practice, completely erasing content from the internet can be extremely difficult due to how widely information can spread and be stored. Thus, the idea that “the Internet never forgets” reflects the challenge of entirely removing digital content once it has been shared.
What else is ThinkMarkets hiding?
Click here to visit the Google Search page for ‘ThinkMarkets’. 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 us. If you have any information on ThinkMarkets that you want to share with us, 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.
References and Citations Used
Over thirty thousand DMCA notices reveal an organized attempt to abuse copyright law.
Reputation Management, or Internet Conspiracy
Exposed documents reveal how the powerful cleaned up their digital past using a reputation laundering firm.
Companies Use Fake Websites and Backdated Articles to Censor Google’s Search Results.
Bad Reviews: How Companies Are Using Fake Websites to Censor Content
How fake copyright complaints are muzzling journalists
Many thanks to FakeDMCA.com and Lumen for providing access to their database.
Photos and Illustrations provided by DALL-E 3 – “a representation of ThinkMarkets censoring the internet and committing cyber crimes.”
- Our investigative report on ThinkMarkets’s efforts to suppress online speech is significant, as it raises serious concerns about its integrity. The findings suggest that ThinkMarkets has engaged in questionable practices, including potential perjury, impersonation, and fraud, in a misguided attempt to manage or salvage its reputation.
- We intend to file a counternotice to reinstate the removed article(s). While this particular instance is relatively straightforward, it is important to note that, in other cases, the overwhelming volume of automated DMCA takedown notices can significantly hinder the ability of affected parties to respond—especially for those not large media organizations.
- You need an account with fakeDMCA.com and Lumen to access the research data. However, accounts are not widely available since these non-profit organisations manage large databases that could be susceptible to misuse. Nevertheless, they do offer access to non-profits and researchers.
- It’s unclear why U.S. authorities have yet to act against these rogue reputation agencies, whose business model seems rooted in fraudulent practices.
- We’ve reached out to ThinkMarkets for a comment or rebuttal regarding this investigation. It will strongly suggest they were behind the takedown attempt if they remain silent.
About the Author
The author is affiliated with Harvard University and serves as a researcher at both Lumen and FakeDMCA.com. In his personal capacity, he and his team have been actively investigating and reporting on organized crime related to fraudulent copyright takedown schemes. Additionally, his team provides advisory services to major law firms and is frequently consulted on matters pertaining to intellectual property law. He can be reached at [email protected] directly.
