Fraud Store - Copied our store and scamming people out of money

[pkam74]

Need some feedback on what to do since Shopify hasn't resolved this in the past month:

I've reached out multiple times to Shopify and this fraudulent Shopify store is still online.  I am very disappointed in Shopify's response to this, and can't believe this store is still online. Below is the info I have.

We were made aware of this on 9/2 when a customer emailed us and told us we had not shipped out their order (a second customer reached out on 10/1).  After researching, we saw that the customer sent us an email because the fraudulent site had the "mailto:" on their "Contact Us" page set to our customer service email address, even though the display email address that was showing was their bogus email.  In addition, you can see they directly copy/pasted our "Contact Us" page.

I would think shopify would be able to check the fraud store to see if the 9 orders between the confirmed fraud orders show as processed and if any suspicious activities can be seen. Also, simply contacting the owner of the Shopify store should bring closure to this situation (the phone numbers they are using are NOT in service).  This should be a clear sign of it being a fraudulent site. 

In addition to the fraudulent orders that were brought to our attention, we found that they copied pasted MULTIPLE static pages of ours. The site has unlawfully copied substantial portions of our website, including our names (within contact info and about us), exclusive product, likeness, and GSA Contract numbers.  While they have not used our logo, the site contains enough copied content and contact details to mislead visitors into believing they are affiliated with U.S. Elite.  

Any assistance would be appreciated on how to proceed.  We also contacted godaddy and they have been unable to assist as well. 

Thank You.

[dylanpierce]

Hi @pkam74 ,

First off, I'm sorry to hear that your brand and likeness have been copied, and these bad actors are harming your brand's reputation that you've worked so hard to build up with good will with your customers.

That said, you have a few courses of action to take.

#1 - Reporting the Malicious Merchant to Shopify

You can report the bad acting merchant to Shopify here: https://www.shopify.com/legal/tools/report-an-issue/report-a-merchant

In your case, I would categorize your report as Trademark infringement , Copyright infringement or Fraud. Just depending on exactly which type of fraud closest matches to your case.

You didn't share if the copycat Shopify storefront is using the same exact name as your own or not. So trademark/copyright may not apply.

#2 - File a report directly with the DNS Registrar of the site

Then next possible course of action is to take down the actual website itself via a DNS takedown request. You'll need to file these directly with the DNS Registrar that's hosting that particular site's domain.

It's possible that this merchant also isn't hosted on Shopify, or perhaps they're not using the built in Shopify DNS Registrar service. This route will help compensate for those possibilities.

To get started, first you'll need to identify the DNS Registrar of the site. You can use a tool like WHOIS (https://whois.com) which will provide the details on the domain name of the site.

This information will include the DNS Registrar. You can then use this information to file a report with the Registrar and request that the site should be taken down. For example, if the site's domain is hosted by NameCheap, then you can file a report with NameCheap here: https://www.namecheap.com/support/knowledgebase/article.aspx/9196/5/how-and-where-can-i-file-abuse-c...

Each DNS Registrar has a dedicated email address or support ticket system for filing abuse complaints. When writing your report, make sure you provide proof of ownership of your own DNS records and how this copy cat site is infringing on your own name and likeness.

I hope this helps,