What if you could "hijack" a successful online store brand with little more than a hyphen? That's what one longtime reader said is happening to him.
His store name consists of two words, and his website domain name is the company name with no spaces. It came to his attention today that someone had obtained the same domain name except they added a hyphen between the two words. He said they're using his logo and selling identical items on the site - only they aren't fulfilling the goods - it's a scam, he said.
He discovered the existence of the copycat site when victims started reaching out to him. They purchased items from the site that used the domain name with the hyphen, then reached out to him when things went south.
The impersonator is taking orders for merchandise from consumers and shipping nothing. The victims have shown the real merchant proof that the impersonating website successfully charged their credit cards.
The merchant also found a colleague in the same industry who reported the same problem - only the impersonator put the word "new" in front of that second merchant's name when creating the copycat website.
We checked the WhoIs database and found the domain names had been registered by two different entities in two different provinces of China.
The two "real" stores are authorized distributors of some stellar brands in their industry. The reader who reported the problem to us contacted his lawyer (so presumably this will result in legal costs for the merchant) and is getting calls from victims.
The story is unfolding, and we have many questions - but ten hours after we received the first email from the seller, the impersonating website is still up.
It doesn't help these merchants that they're discovering the fraud on a Friday of the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. We'll be following this story and will let you know any lessons these merchants learn along the way.
Armed with a Hyphen, Pirate Hijacks Merchant's Store Brand
by: The End 