The Growing Threat
Every day, bad actors create fake websites mimicking legitimate Shopify stores. These aren’t amateur operations—they’re sophisticated scams that copy your branding, product images, and even your customer reviews.
For growing DTC brands, this represents a serious and often invisible threat. You might never know you’re losing customers to counterfeiters until it’s too late.
How They Find Your Customers
Scammers use multiple tactics to intercept your customers:
1. Typosquatting
They register misspelled versions of your domain. When a customer accidentally types yourstore.co instead of yourstore.com, they land on a fake site that looks identical to yours.
2. Lookalike Domains
Using characters that look similar to letters in your brand name. The number “0” instead of the letter “O”, or Cyrillic characters that appear identical to Latin letters.
3. Ad Fraud
Running Google or Facebook ads targeting your brand name. Customers searching for your store click on ads that lead to counterfeit sites.
4. Phishing Emails
Sending fake “order confirmation” or “shipping update” emails that direct customers to fraudulent checkout pages.
Real Impact on Your Business
The damage goes beyond just lost sales:
- Lost revenue to counterfeit sales: Every dollar spent on a fake site is a dollar you didn’t earn
- Customer trust erosion: Customers who get scammed may blame you, even if you weren’t involved
- Support costs: Time spent helping confused customers and handling fraud reports
- Brand reputation damage: Association with counterfeit or low-quality goods
One mid-sized Shopify merchant we spoke with estimated losing $50,000 to typosquatting over six months before they even knew it was happening.
Signs You Might Be Targeted
Watch for these warning signs:
- Customer complaints about orders they never placed with you
- Support tickets referencing products or promotions you don’t offer
- Social media mentions of your brand from confused customers
- Unusual spikes in password reset requests (attackers trying stolen credentials)
What You Can Do
1. Monitor for Domain Threats Weekly
Search for variations of your domain name. Check WHOIS records for newly registered lookalike domains.
2. Implement Proper DNS Authentication
Set up SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records to prevent email spoofing. This stops attackers from sending convincing phishing emails using your domain.
3. Use Automated Brand Protection Tools
Manual monitoring doesn’t scale. Automated tools can scan for threats continuously and alert you immediately when new fake sites appear.
4. Educate Your Customers
Consider adding a security notice to your site explaining how customers can verify they’re on your real store.
Taking Action
When you find a fake site, you have options:
- Report to the domain registrar: Most have abuse policies
- File UDRP complaints: For clear trademark violations
- Contact hosting providers: Get the site taken down
- Report to Google: Remove fake sites from search results
Ready to protect your brand? Run a free security audit to see if your store is currently being targeted by counterfeiters or typosquatters.