Plum Property Makelaar Brett Andreasen speaks on a YouTube video about what he claims is disinformation on the website of Byrony O’Neill. Image: YouTube.
A prominent broker is accused of placing fake sales and assessments of rival agents on its website, which causes a peat war.
Byrony O’Neill from Byrony O’Neill Estate Agents is in the center of an online storm that has been inspected by a rival agent who accuses her of placing false information about its competitors to win customers and obtain search traffic.
But Mrs. O’Neill, who sells multi-million dollar property in the interior west of Brisbane, says that the content has been posted without its knowledge and that it has since been removed.
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Byrony O’Neill from O’Neill Estate Agents.
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Brett Andreasen from Plum Property has posted a YouTube video and social media post that claims that Mrs O’Neill offers disinformation to the public for personal gain in a movement that is labeled as “the scandal of the industry”.
“Our attention was brought that a prominent agent in Toowong made pages on their website about their competitors – not only me, complete with fake sales, fake reviews, fake testimonies,” says Mr Andreasen in the video.
“This is not about competition; this is about transparency. This evokes flagrant lies when an agent on his website makes fake sales, fake reviews about their competitors to try to mislead customers and customers … That agent has done the wrong by raising their customers and their own reputation in the community – this must be proclaimed.”
A screenshot by Plum Property Makelaar Brett Andreasen’s YouTube video about what he claims are his fake sale on the website of Byrony O’Neill. Image: YouTube.
Plum Property Makelaar Brett Andreasen speaks on a YouTube video about what he claims is disinformation on the website of Byrony O’Neill. Image: YouTube.
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Mr Andreasen provided screenshots of information from what he claims that 18 pages with fake sales, reviews and testimonies were about the website of Byrony O’Neill.
The pages have since been removed from the website, but links to archives of each page are in the description of the video of Mr Andreasen.
One witness statements; “Brett’s negotiation skills and proactive communication made the process simple,” says a customer. Another assessment notes: “Great result, but Byrony O’Neill is highly recommended by many locals.”
“That is a strange quote from a customer who used my services and then said that we are going to use someone else. I can look back through my career and say that that never happened,” said Mr Andreasen.
Plum Property Makelaar Brett Andreasen speaks on a YouTube video about what he claims is disinformation on the website of Byrony O’Neill. Image: YouTube.
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Under that testimony are a number of addresses of properties that are sold by Mr Andreasen, including 22/22 Jephson St, TooWong in April 2025.
“I have not sold that property, especially in April 2025. Then I looked it up. There is no 3/22 Jephson St, TooWong,” he said.
“Can you see what is happening here? Fake sales is put under my name.”
He then noticed on that similar fake witnesses and sales were mentioned for 18 other agents in the area that was also mentioned on the website of Mrs. O’Neill, including identical ‘complaints’ sections and non -rewarded quotes from customers that are quoted as promotion of Byrony.
Each agent also has a small group of fake sales, either for real estate that do not exist, are in different suburbs, units are not sold, or are sold at a different time for a different price.
A screenshot by Plum Property Makelaar Brett Andreasen’s YouTube video about what he claims are his fake sale on the website of Byrony O’Neill. Image: YouTube.
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Mr Andreasen said he met the findings when he googled his name and the word ‘reviews’.
The video causes quite a bit of a stir in the real estate community.
It was noted: “She still called you to say sorry? You know, recording the phone. Maybe we should all call her today to let her know that we are not very happy with this behavior.”
Another says, “Office of Fair Trading must hear about this.” And another: “This is certainly the scandal of the industry!” “This is disgusting! Good work that exposes this !!”
Alex Frew, the founder of 3P Digital, went to Mr Andreasen’s Instagram Post to respond to the allegations and claimed full responsibility in a comment.
Brett Andreasen from Plum Property. Pic: Josh won.
“We contact the recent concerns about inaccurate content that appeared on the BYRONY O’Neill website. These pages were made and published by one of our team members at 3P Digital as part of a programmatic SEO initiative. Byrony had given us full autonomy to manage this process to manage this process.
“Byrony only became aware of the problem after receiving a phone call from an agent who had seen a public position on it on July 27 around 7 pm. She reported us immediately and all pages in question were removed at 3 o’clock on July 28.
“We take full responsibility for this error. The data used in the SEO strategy were incorrect and its recording was a mistake. The responsible employee is managed internally, and since then we have updated our internal checks to prevent this from happening again.”
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Mrs O’Neill has since released a statement that apologizes in the affected.
“I apologize to everyone who has influenced this,” says it.
“I have been in real estate for more than 21 years, and this is not who I am or how my company works.
“I called in a third to manage all my IT requirements, and this content was made without my knowledge or approval. The IT company has confirmed this in their public statements.
“I was furious when I was informed, and the pages were removed immediately.”
Mr. Andreasen said he was contacted by the Office of Fair Trading and the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) and informed other affected agents about this.
His concern is that the information on Mrs O’Neill’s website could discourage customers from using one of the aforementioned agents who could be a loss of things for that agent. He also claims that the wrong selling prices can lead to agents being accused of under -verification.
Reiq CEO of Antonia Mercirella. Photo: Kidston’s line.
Real Estate Institute of Queensland (Reiq) CEO Antonia Mercorella saidThe Reiq ordered agents complaints to the industrial regulator, the Office of Fair Trading, if they believed that competitors acted in a potentially illegal manner.
“Real estate is an extremely competitive industry, especially between companies that specialize in the same practice or local areas,” said Mrs. Mercorella.
“Significant amounts of money, time and resources are invested in building a brand and reputation in the real estate sector, and many consumers consider and put trust in reviews when selecting a real estate professional to act on their behalf.”
Mrs. Mercorella said there were strict laws for real estate in Queensland, as well as federal consumer laws, and it was important real estate professionals were careful when it came to their own promotional activities, reviews and representations.
“In this always digital world, online marketing tactics such as search engine optimization are vital to stay ahead of the peloton and we support agents who promote their own performance,” she said.
“In addition, integrity and honesty must remain the core of all professional behavior.”
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