How can I protect my jewelry business from counterfeit websites?

[lkstar]

I operate maziandzo.com which is a reputable jewelry business that carries some licensed merchandise. Someone in Malaysia has purchased maziandzo.shop (screenshot below) and is reproducing my catalog with a garbage site with prices marked to less than half.

1. they cannot fulfill these orders as all of my merchandise is handmade to order in NYC

2. the site is garbage and reflects poorly on my brand

3. they are violating my copyrighted content (original designs and product copy)

4. they are putting me in breach on my licensing agreements

5. they are violating my licensors' trademarks.

Worst of all, they are publishing from my full product data feed which includes products that are not published on my site, so I am concerned about my data security. I am a tiny business so no one would target me specifically and I'm concerned this is a larger issue. I've contacted Shopify support and they said "your data is secure" and close the ticket.

How can I get in touch with someone who will actually look into this?

thanks for any suggestions!

[ThePrimeWeb · Accepted solution]

Hey @lkstar,

If you go to https://www.who-hosts-this.com/

you will see that it's hosted by cloudflare, maybe writing to them with proof regarding what you own, how it's hurting your brand, and maybe pointing out that cloudflare themselves as a company is supporting this by not taking action would be good to push them. 

As you have now experienced, this is the dark side of the e-commerce world and these people do exist in other parts of the internet as well. Of course we have to protect ourselves because we can't rely on anyone to protect us. 

I would advice you to post on all socials about this, add a banner to your website claiming that your url is only maziandzo.com and and other shop links do not belong to you and they are scams, and send out an email to all registered or past customers regarding this. 

You could engage lawyers and such, but that's an expensive procedure and it's not one you can always rely on. The stuff above should help you minimize alot of damage. Normally when scammers realise that the actual owner has realised what's going on they also know that their scam is going to fade away, so they stop because scammers don't like to work hard anyway. If things are going to get difficult, they'll move on. I've seen that from experience. Making as much noise as you can is a better bet than hiring lawyers and all that garbage at the moment.

[lkstar]

Thank you again. Good call - I reported to registrar but domain host another good idea. I have posted a couple of reels on social and like the idea of a simple pinned post. I have also reported this to my licensing agency b/c trademark enforcement is their primary job so I'm hoping their lawyers can cover b/c I def can't afford to pay my current legal representative to pursue this! (I ran up a big bill 2 weeks ago just reviewing some LLC registration and assumed name stuff!)

I also just bought the .shop domain for other .coms I own and every version of maziandzo since that's my primary business.

I'm most concerned that they've accessed my unpublished products, though -- doesn't that imply there's a Shopify leak?

thanks, Lizzy

[lkstar]

Hmm - cloudflare's abuse channel says they won't remove content, but I think I can ask my licensors' people to report as a trademark violation which might carry more weight. LinkedIn implies I have easy access to contact the execs at Cloudflare and will see if that's more helpful! thank you.

[ThePrimeWeb]

Hey @lkstar

Just post everything you are doing on your socials, the scammers are bound to see it sometime and then realise it's not worth it anymore. 
For the unpublished products, I hope no one shared a preview link (even accidently). It's hard to say what caused it really. 

The registrar is something I would not rely on for the most part because registrar could just tell you it's a domain that was available for sale and someone bought it which is not illegal. 

Honestly, the best solution is making noise in any place possible. 

[lkstar]

thank you! There was another sketchy site that posted my stuff, Shoppi.app, and they took it down after I made a reel. Pretty sure these guys aren't watching my socials, but at least I hope I can protect my followers/customers from being ripped off. Though the site is so bad is hard to believe anyone would purchase!

[lkstar]

check this out!! 

[ThePrimeWeb]

Looks like it’s true! I can’t access the site anymore. 

That was quick 😄