The state charged a Cape Cod man with civil fraud for allegedly running a real estate scheme in which he took more than $1.2 million from 25 Massachusetts investors.

According to a complaint filed Monday by Secretary of State William F. Galvin’s office, James R. Cruise Jr. of Centerville sold unregistered promissory notes to investors through his company, The Austin Group, over two decades. While promising to pay investors an interest rate of up to 15 percent, Cruise actually used the money they gave him to buy real estate, the state said.