Stock Broker Fraud: How Your Reputation Can Be Ruined In 5 Minutes

"It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you'll do things differently." -Warren Buffett

Every day, brokers find themselves being listed on sites like 

• stopbrokerfraud.com
•  erezlaw.com
•  sonnlaw.com
• stockbrokerfraud.com

 These are all sites run by attorneys looking to find businesses representing people a broker has wronged.

The problem is that the pages are filled with allegations and few litigated cases. If you find your name on one of these sites, it can be painful and surprising, but there is something you can do about it!

How broker fraud law firms work.

These law offices troll through records from the SEC and other public records sources, looking for brokers who have been accused of impropriety. They couch their listings in phrases like “pending customer dispute” and “alleged” to avoid affirming that a wrong has been committed. They are even willing to throw other sites under the bus, saying, “according to his BrokerCheck record accessed on.”

In one recent case, a broker with 17 years’ experience, licenses in 5 states, four exams passed, and a history of having worked for some of the biggest firms in the country has a `pending” complaint. In short, someone is upset about something, but nothing has been proven. These law offices list these accusations to find clients who want to file a lawsuit.

If you have read some of their reviews, you see that most need law firm reputation management. However, we only see one side of the coin.

To make matters even worse, the listings include the broker’s CRD number as well as that of their employer. To the average reader, this implies that the entire firm might have been in on inappropriate conduct.

Why do these sites list my name?

They are simply playing on investors' fears and anger.

Investing is risky. Everyone who has ever seen a TV commercial for investment has heard the warnings.

When someone loses money in an investment, they look for someone to blame.

Like a lawsuit, anyone can file a complaint anytime. That doesn't mean it's going to go anywhere or that there's any truth to it.

Websites like stopbrokerfraud.com and sonnlaw.com list these accusations, knowing the broker may be innocent.

In the meantime, their reputation is being sullied by unproven online allegations that appear part of a regular Google search.

The effects of being listed on erezlaw.com and others

Some factors about the internet make it a terrible place to be accused of anything.

1. As in this case, only one side of the story exists. The very nature of investments is that there is a risk.
2. Almost everything on the internet is forever. Google might show a posting that isn't there any longer. This can take weeks to months to fall off as the Google bots begin to realize that the page has been deleted.
3. Most consumers will dig deeper into your information if they already know or work with you. One bad review might be enough to turn off potential clients. That's why getting this taken down as soon as possible is imperative.
4. A negative posting might lead to a series of frivolous lawsuits you must deal with and pay for. That's precisely what these attorneys are counting on. They want to make it more expensive to defend yourself than it is to settle the claims. 

Even when covered by an out-of-court settlement, the attorneys will get their fees, and the client will get cash, even if the broker didn't do anything wrong. If these attorneys can bury you in lawsuits, you're more likely to want to settle than fight. They're counting on it.

While some brokers break the law, most act in good faith; they have clients who lost money.

A listing on these sites will often show up in the top three on Google because of the postings they do each day. Daily lines imply that the broker has already been convicted of a crime or defrauding their clients.

How to get my name off of stockbrokerfraud.com

The answer is simple: You need a team specializing in internet defamation and online reputation management.

A team of attorneys that understand how to move quickly and work to get these accusations removed immediately. Because these are not litigated charges, and the plaintiff hasn't proven that they were wronged, these postings are not legitimate. They intentionally mislead unsuspecting, upset investors by giving them a scapegoat for their losses.

Your attorneys sent a cease and desist letter outlining the impropriety of these postings and requesting that they be removed immediately.

As with any other accused in the United States, brokers deserve a presumption of innocence until proven guilty. While these carefully worded postings are factual, they imply that the broker has been found guilty or is untrustworthy.

If the site doesn't remove the defamatory information quickly, you can take them to court and force them to prove the claim factual. Again, since it's an accusation, not a conviction, posting this information is defamatory.

While our attorneys are hard at work getting these slanderous postings removed, the reputation management team works on moving that information away from the front page. This allows our group to clean your reputation even as the legal side moves through.

What if I’ve been found guilty?

There is a lot that you can do to push down Google search results. Using the powerful techniques of reputation management, we can repair your online reputation, mainly if there is a single incident to recover from.

Reputation management isn’t just about this type of case. Millions of claims of defamation need to be corrected. It’s a multi-pronged approach that includes blogs, articles, press releases, videos, social media, and more.

It’s a long game that requires a lot of activity and effort. We put up postings that counter the harmful data. In other words, positive truth can overcome negative information.

Data collected from July 23-August 5, 2019

We understand your frustration.

If you’ve spent years working hard to deliver excellent service and value to your clients, being listed in a way that implies that you’ve done something wrong is painful. We know that.

That’s why when you call us, we move immediately to get everything taken down and your reputation restored.

Every professional accused of inappropriate or illegal should have the chance to prove their innocence before being maligned by an attorney’s office simply looking to drum up clients. By preying on the fears of people who’ve lost money in investments, they’re ruthlessly re-injuring people.

We seek to put your reputation back where it belongs. And if you’ve been convicted, we work to put you right after you’ve “paid your debt to society.”

Get a team that knows how to put things right, fast. Your business deserves it.