Thanks for all the info Ivanm.  I've been successful with the proxy and activating hotlink protection, thanks to your advice.  I'm not sure if the images are being blocked from the scammer websites or not.  They are always trying new dirty tricks.  I...

Nope...renaming does NOT delete the original file. It no longer appears in our content>files pages, but it is still available to hotlinkers. If you do rename an image file and you want to delete the original file, you have to delete the file that you...

Thanks Ivanm, I'm trying to configure Cloudflare. I'm in over my head.  I'm waiting for the nameservers to propagate. Fingers crossed I don't ruin anything. If you have any suggestions such as how-to videos for non-programmers, that would be great. A...

I think I've stumbled upon a way to rename image files without haven't to download/rename/upload and delete the old files.  There is no point apparently in complaining about the ridiculous exposure we all have to criminal activity since on one seems ...

Hi Jeffery, I'm not sure this works for the purpose of breaking hotlinks to our images from malicious websites.  In order to break the URL links that these thieves exploit, there can't be a redirect from the old image URL to the new image URL.  Does ...

....it would be fabulous if Shopify took the lead on this issue.  They could advertise that they are the only online selling platform that protects it's users from malicious image hotlinking by scammers.

I wish Shopify WOULD chime in.  But to be fair, Shopify is not the only problem.  I've been on a number of online venues to sell my art, and they all hold on to images and use them to promote their businesses, even when one no longer sells there.   A...

I can't do it.  I can't move to Wordpress for the hotlink protections.  I'll have to continue renaming image files and taking the seo hit.  COME ON Shopify, give us the fix!!!!!  Please!

I wish you the best with this horrible situation Brett. I'm trying to figure out what to do next.  My shopify website is a liability at this point.  I would be better off right now if I shut it down.

It's such an awful mess. I just started using "Boostmark" for geoblocking, and it's doing a great job.  Once in awhile something slips through. I don't think geoblocking extends to the cdn/hotlinking problem though. Meaning that those hotlinked image...

Shopify uses a Shopify cdn as well as our domain cdn.  You can see them in Content>Files.  I think some images have both URLs but I'm not sure.  I think older images were all on a Shopfy cdn URL.

The hotlinking problem by scam/fraud websites HAD dramatically lessened this year, but it's back now.  ONLY Google gives the scammer websites good search placement, as far as I can see.  I have no idea why Google serves up search results that show on...

Hi, to the best of my knowledge, Shopify doesn't give us an .htaccess file.  That is something we would get from a web host, but not from an all-in-one builder like Shopify.  Correct me if I'm wrong!  ~Sally

Hi Amanda, I'm so glad it was helpful!  I assume that doing a redirect in Google (something I've never done) would put your renamed image right back on the scammers page that is "selling" counterfeits of your item (if that's the problem you're having...

Hi Amanda, The problem has dramatically lessened on Google search results.  I did start reporting the listings on the bogus ecommerce pages that were redirected to by the legit pages on real websites that seemed to have been hacked and had pages adde...