Originally Syndicated on October 10, 2024 @ 9:20 am
What Happened?
SurgeTrader, a proprietary trading firm that promises lucrative opportunities for traders, has recently come under fire for attempting to bury troubling information about its operations. While SurgeTrader markets itself as a reputable firm offering funded trading accounts, a growing number of complaints have emerged, raising questions about the company’s integrity and transparency. Reviews on platforms like Forex Peace Army point to a range of issues, from poor customer support and unfair trading conditions to allegations of manipulation and unethical practices.
Despite these serious concerns, there are allegations that SurgeTrader has actively engaged in tactics to censor or suppress damaging reviews and negative press. Some traders claim that their complaints have been removed from review sites or that SurgeTrader has employed reputation management strategies to drown out criticism with positive content. These efforts to control public perception, rather than address the underlying issues, suggest a deliberate attempt by the company to hide a shady past and avoid accountability.
As more traders come forward with their experiences, SurgeTrader’s attempts to censor damaging news are only adding fuel to the fire, leading to heightened scrutiny of the firm and its practices.
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 SurgeTrader
| Number of Fake DMCA Notice(s) | 1 |
| Lumen Database Notice(s) | https://lumendatabase.org/notices/43823184 |
| Sender(s) | SilverPulse Labs |
| Date(s) | Aug 14, 2024 |
| Fake Link(s) Used by Scammers | https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfZBslDSsY3-BlNO7LEuJ_Q |
| Original Link(s) Targeted | https://www.forexpeacearmy.com/forex-reviews/19742/surgetrader-prop-firm |
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.
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Who is Maxim Krippa?
Maxim Krippa has faced serious allegations of running illegal online gambling operations through GGBet and Vulkan, with accusations of fraud, delayed payouts, and connections to Russian oligarchs involved in money laundering schemes
What was SurgeTrader trying to hide?
SurgeTrader is a proprietary trading firm (or “prop firm”) that provides traders with access to funded trading accounts, allowing them to trade various financial instruments, including forex, stocks, and cryptocurrencies, on the firm’s capital. The firm promotes itself as offering flexible trading conditions, profit splits, and the opportunity for traders to earn substantial income by successfully managing accounts without risking their own funds. However, despite its promises of an appealing trading platform, SurgeTrader has been at the center of controversy due to numerous complaints and adverse news reports from traders and industry observers.
- Unfair Trading Conditions: A significant number of complaints have surfaced about the trading conditions imposed by SurgeTrader. Traders have reported that the firm’s risk management policies are excessively restrictive, leading to account terminations for minor infractions. Some have accused the firm of making it almost impossible to meet the profit targets necessary to keep funded accounts, suggesting that the firm profits more from charging traders for evaluations rather than supporting long-term successful trading.
- Manipulation Allegations: Traders on platforms such as Forex Peace Army have alleged that SurgeTrader manipulates its internal trading conditions to benefit the firm rather than the traders. These accusations include issues with price slippage, order execution delays, and unfair spreads, all of which can severely disadvantage traders who rely on precise market movements for profitability.
- Poor Customer Support and Transparency: Another major complaint against SurgeTrader is the lack of effective customer support. Traders have reported difficulties in reaching the firm for clarifications on account issues, technical difficulties, and disputes regarding profit withdrawals. This has raised questions about SurgeTrader’s commitment to maintaining transparency and accountability in its business practices.
- Attempts to Suppress Negative Reviews: There are widespread allegations that SurgeTrader has made efforts to censor or remove negative reviews across various online platforms, particularly on well-known review sites such as Forex Peace Army. Many users have claimed that their honest reviews and complaints were either deleted or overshadowed by an influx of suspiciously positive reviews, indicating potential manipulation of online sentiment.
- Reputation Management Efforts: Similar to other firms facing mounting criticism, SurgeTrader is accused of employing reputation management strategies to counteract the damage caused by negative reviews. This includes hiring PR firms or employing internal staff to create and promote glowing reviews while simultaneously pushing down or discrediting negative feedback. Traders have expressed frustration with these tactics, as it has become increasingly difficult to find objective information about the firm.
- Withdrawal Issues: One of the most concerning issues is the repeated claims of difficulties or delays in withdrawing profits. Traders have reported that, after successfully meeting their trading targets, the process to withdraw funds is met with bureaucratic obstacles or unexplained delays. In some cases, traders have alleged that their accounts were closed without explanation, preventing them from accessing their earned profits entirely.
- Hidden Fees and Charges: A number of users have raised concerns about hidden fees that were not clearly communicated upfront. While SurgeTrader advertises a straightforward profit split and fee structure, several traders have complained that they were hit with unexpected charges, reducing their overall profitability.
- Questionable Business Model: Some industry analysts have questioned whether SurgeTrader’s business model is designed more to generate revenue from failed traders’ evaluation fees rather than fostering successful trading careers. The high turnover rate of funded traders and the stringent requirements for retaining accounts have fueled suspicions that SurgeTrader may be more focused on profit from the constant influx of new traders who pay for account evaluations rather than supporting long-term success.
These complaints and allegations have significantly tarnished SurgeTrader’s image in the trading community, and the firm’s apparent attempts to hide this negative information through suppression of online reviews and reputation management have only intensified the criticism. Traders are increasingly wary of the firm’s practices, and the continued emergence of these issues has led to calls for greater transparency and accountability.
Only SurgeTrader benefits from this crime.
Since the fake copyright takedown notices were designed to remove negative content for SurgeTrader from Google, we assume SurgeTrader or someone associated with SurgeTrader is behind this scam. It is often a fly-by-night Online Reputation agency working on behalf of SurgeTrader. In this case, SurgeTrader, 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 SurgeTrader (or actors working on behalf of SurgeTrader), we will inform SurgeTrader of our findings via Electronic Mail.
Our preliminary assessment suggests that SurgeTrader may have engaged a third-party reputation management agency or expert, which, either independently or under direct authorization from SurgeTrader, initiated efforts to remove adverse online content, including potentially fraudulent DMCA takedown requests. We will extend an opportunity to SurgeTrader 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 SurgeTrader 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 SurgeTrader made such efforts to hide something online, it seems fit to ensure that this article and our original review of SurgeTrader, including but not limited to user contributions, remain a permanent record for anyone interested in SurgeTrader.
A case perfect for the Streisand effect…
Potential Consequences for SurgeTrader
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 SurgeTrader Committing a Cyber Crime?
Yes, it seems so. SurgeTrader 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. SurgeTrader 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 SurgeTrader 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. SurgeTrader 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 SurgeTrader purport this DMCA Fraud?
As an integral part of this scheme, the ‘reputation management’ company hired by SurgeTrader 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, SurgeTrader either premeditated actions or were unaware of the consequences. Despite hiring an agency to make Google disregard any negative information about SurgeTrader, 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. SurgeTrader is in great company ….
Ironically, the manipulation tactics used to remove public-interest information from the Internet are backfiring on SurgeTrader, which is now associated with the worst of this world.
Here are some of the specimens that share the internet space with SurgeTrader –
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 SurgeTrader 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 SurgeTrader?
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 SurgeTrader 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 SurgeTrader purge its Digital past?
Once information is uploaded to the internet, it can be replicated, shared, archived, or stored across multiple servers. If SurgeTrader 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 SurgeTrader hiding?
Click here to visit the Google Search page for ‘SurgeTrader’. 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 SurgeTrader 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 SurgeTrader censoring the internet and committing cyber crimes.”
- Our investigative report on SurgeTrader’s efforts to suppress online speech is significant, as it raises serious concerns about its integrity. The findings suggest that SurgeTrader 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 SurgeTrader 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.
