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  "documentTitle": "KE Holdings (BEKE)",
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  "authorName": "Carson C. Block",
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  "presentationDate": "2021-12-16 00:00:00",
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  "notes": "This is a research note page focusing on fraud exposure through external data verification.",
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      "text": "Spot checking reveals that the overstatement is likely much greater.",
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      "text": "In order to determine whether BEKE was overstating the number of agents on its platform, we compared a local real estate license registry against the detailed disclosures provided by BEKE in connection with a recent acquisition.",
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      "text": "As a protection against unscrupulous real estate agents, the city of Nanchang in Jiangxi Province provides a quantitative score and ranking for all agents, tracking good and bad behaviors with 100 points (5 stars) being the highest ranking.",
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      "text": "These scores are listed in Nanchang City’s Real Estate Broker Credit Registry (the “Registry”). Agents with scores below 60 are entered onto a blacklist and their brokerage credentials are cancelled. The Registry is public and searchable. Local authorities confirmed that the Registry is updated frequently and that the registry is so current, displaying whether an agent is still with an agency, or if they have resigned or have been blacklisted.",
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      "text": "It is possible that BEKE is worried that its inflated agent count will be discovered. Similar to its stores, in BEKE’s 3Q21 earnings press release, the Company introduced new metrics of ‘active agents’ and ‘active stores’ on its platform.",
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      "text": "Despite this ruse, even if we count the ‘active’ agents, we still observe a substantial discrepancy between the number of ‘active’ agents reported by BEKE and the number of agents on its platform. In other words, our platform data likely overcounts the number of agents working for the Company. Spot checking reveals that the overstatement is likely much greater.",
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      "kind": "paragraph",
      "text": "Rather than this being an acknowledgement of the number of inactive agents on BEKE’s platform, we think it is a thinly veiled attempt to preempt concerns about the discrepancy between BEKE’s claims and reality.",
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      "kind": "source-note",
      "text": "41-44 Footnotes referencing SEC filings and Nanchang government websites.",
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      "kind": "title",
      "text": "b. Local Government Real Estate Website Corroborates Exaggerated Agent Count",
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