Someone copied my website: how to get a cloned store taken down

What you'll need

• The clone's address and the URL of every copied page. Platforms act on the links you give them, and Shopify says a general shop link will not be accepted.
• Dated screenshots of each page with the URL visible, and a saved copy of the page.
• Links to your originals: the page on your site where each photo or description was first published.
• Your trademark registration numbers, if the clone uses your name or logo.
• A brand-protection email address. Several of these companies pass your notice, including your contact details, to the site operator.
• Order details, if you or a customer bought from the clone. They support a fraud report and a chargeback.

The steps on this page follow each company's own reporting pages, checked 16 October 2026.

Find out who serves the site

Every website has a platform or host that serves it and a registrar that sold the domain. They are usually different companies, and each one can act. Paste the address into the Abuse Contact Finder or the Fake Shopping Website Checker to see the store platform, host, registrar and their abuse contacts.

Report it, in this order

Not on a store platform? Skip step 2 and start with the host.

1. 1

   Capture the evidence

   Screenshot every copied page with the URL and date visible, and save a copy. Write down the domain, the platform and the host from the lookup.

2. 2

   Report to the store platform

   On Shopify, use the copyright (DMCA) form for copied photos and text and the trademark and trade dress form for your name or logo, with the URL of every infringing page. Our Shopify guide walks through both forms.

3. 3

   Report to the host, or to Cloudflare

   Send the host's abuse or copyright contact a notice listing each copied page and your original. If the site sits behind Cloudflare, use Cloudflare's abuse form: Cloudflare forwards the complaint to the site operator and the hosting provider, and gives the host the origin IP so it can find the content. The DMCA notice template works for most hosts.

4. 4

   Report to the registrar

   ICANN requires registrars to publish an abuse contact and to take 'reasonable and prompt steps to investigate and respond appropriately to any reports of abuse'. Say what the domain is being used for, with your evidence. If a registrar never responds, ICANN takes complaints about registrars that fail these duties.

5. 5

   Remove it from Google Search

   Copied photos and text can be removed from Google results with a copyright request through Google's legal removal troubleshooter. Google sends copyright notices to Lumen, which publishes them, and the site owner can counter-notify.

6. 6

   Report it to the payment provider

   If you can see who processes the clone's payments, report it. PayPal takes infringement reports at infringementreport@paypal.com, and Stripe has an IP notice process. Both can only stop processing payments for the site, which still cuts off its sales.

If the clone takes money and never delivers

A clone that takes orders and ships nothing, or collects card details while posing as you, is fraud as well as infringement. Report it on Shopify through the fraud route rather than only the IP forms. Google Safe Browsing takes reports of deceptive and phishing sites, which can show visitors a warning in Chrome; it is not a route for trademark disputes, so use it only when the site is deceiving buyers. Ask customers who bought from it for their order confirmation, which supports a chargeback with their bank.

What happens next

• The operator may be told who reported them. Shopify may pass your notice and contact details to the merchant. Cloudflare forwards complaints to the site operator, though you can ask it not to forward your name for some categories.
• A counter-notice can bring copyright content back. On Shopify, copyright content 'may be reposted' if the merchant counter-notifies and Shopify hears of no legal action within 10 to 14 business days. A counter-notice means giving a name and accepting a court's jurisdiction, which anonymous operators tend to avoid.
• None of these companies publishes a response time. Keep a dated record of each report so you can follow up.
• Clones come back on new domains. Shopify says it terminates repeat infringers in appropriate circumstances, including every store the same person runs. Search for your brand name and run your best product photos through a reverse image search every week or two.