A fraudulent Shopify store (mastershoe-uk.com) is impersonating the retailer Mastershoe by copying their name, store images, and terms (even leaving Mastershoe’s return address and company name Giles UK Ltd). It’s running paid Facebook/Instagram ads, leading customers to place orders they believe are with Mastershoe; the real business is fielding complaints and directing victims to their banks to report fraud.
Reports have been filed with Shopify Support, the domain registrar (Tucows), Action Fraud (the UK’s national fraud reporting center), Google, and Shopify’s “Report a merchant” form. The site remains online.
New details: scam order numbers reportedly start with “AVA,” steep 60–70% discounts lure buyers, and at least one victim saw a “customs-cleared” tracking update. The OP suspects scammers ship cheap items to generate proof of postage and complicate chargebacks (bank-initiated payment reversals).
Community advice and actions:
A member also reported the store to Shopify as Fraud.
File a formal trademark/copyright notice with evidence (registration, original images, URLs of copied content).
Report/flag the domain with the registrar and the social ads; consider a cease-and-desist letter.
Submit to antivirus/security sites as malicious.
Status: unresolved and ongoing. The OP is sending a standard advisory to affected customers while seeking faster takedown avenues.
Summarized with AI on December 11.
AI used: gpt-5.
Hi everyone, I’m hoping someone here can give me guidance because I’m honestly running out of places to turn.
Our business, Mastershoe, has discovered a Shopify store operating under mastershoe-uk.com that is copying our trading name, our high-street store images, terms and conditions (even leaving in our return address and company name Giles UK Ltd). They are running paid-ads on Facebook and Instagram and customers are placing orders every single day, believing they are buying from us. We are then getting the fallout, with people emailing and phoning to chase orders they never actually placed with us. All we can do is advise them to go to their bank and raise it as fraud, which is a horrible position for everyone involved.
I’ve reported this site everywhere I can think of..
I’ve contacted Shopify Support.
I’ve filed with Tucows (the domain registrar).
I’ve reported it to Action Fraud in the UK.
I’ve submitted it to Google.
The site is still up and customers are still being scammed
I’m not here to rant. I’m genuinely asking for help or direction from anyone who knows how to make Shopify take this seriously. It feels unreal how easily a scam store can be created by copying an established business, and how slow the process is to get anything taken down.
If anyone has dealt with a situation like this or knows the exact route that gets attention, I would be grateful for any advice.
Welcome to the community, but sorry to hear about your case.
I know customers are easy to think it is a legal store, but those big discounts should be first red flag among other things. I recently made a post
To warn at least someone, as this is a season of scams, also.
You already reported where you could, and that should be enough. Not sure if you reported in chat or here
Select Fraud or/and Trademark infringement.
Besides Google and Action Fraud, you can report it to a few more places, anti-virus and security sites. Check this post, but also the whole topic. We had a similar case, but the other site was closed in a day or two.
Good luck, and hope they shut down that site fast.
Thank you for your thoughtful reply. We’ve already submitted a report through the ‘Report a merchant’ form as well. I get that these things can take a while, although it’s becoming pretty frustrating on our end. People ring us up, start reading out an order number beginning with AVA, and straight away we know they’ve bought from the scam site. We tell them, and they usually say they checked our reviews on Google first, saw the real Mastershoe feedback, and assumed the site they used was genuine.
We’ve ended up writing a standard message that we now send to everyone who contacts us about it, explaining what’s going on and giving them the links they need to report it. One customer even said they were given a tracking number showing their parcel clearing customs, which baffled them since we are in the UK.
At this point we are trying to figure out what these fraudsters are actually shipping, whether it’s knock off stock or something pointless shoved in a box. My guess is they do it so they have a proof of postage which makes chargebacks harder. They know exactly what they’re doing. We can’t even report them for trademark breach because our registered mark is “mastershoe” while they call themselves “master shoe”.
Yeah, they could send some cheap toys or items. There were a few reports that some scammers use that. Or just delay as much as they can. And they do know what they do, but for them, it is probably a daily task: create a fake store and leave it however long it can last, then, when closed, continue with others. So nothing much to do but report. But customers could be educated more to recognize fake stores or just to see a few signs, just not to buy there. But that is tough when all they see 60%, 70% discounts.
I report it as well, on Shopify page as Fraud, maybe it help a bit.
You’re right, they probably treat it like a daily grind, spinning up one fake shop after another and leaving chaos behind. We’re doing everything we can on our end, but it’s hard watching customers get caught out, especially when those ridiculous seventy percent “sales” pull people in before they even think to double-check.
I really appreciate you reporting it as well. Every extra flag helps, even if it feels slow going. Honestly, thank you for sticking with this and giving us a bit of support. It means a lot!
File a formal notice to report the infringement of your trademark or copyright with all proof, including your trademark registration, original images, URLs of the content it copied. Report the domain to the registrar, flag social media ads, and perhaps a cease-and-desist letter to the store infringing. Keep records of everything, so you can get it taken down fast.
