Strategy: Brand Protection

Guides discovery, reporting, and prevention of brand impersonation—fake websites, phishing sites, trademark infringement, and domain squatting. See

domain-selection

for defensive domain registration;

trust-badges

for official site verification signals;

about-page

for identity declaration.

When invoking

On

first use

, if helpful, open with 1–2 sentences on what this skill covers and why it matters, then provide the main output. On

subsequent use

or when the user asks to skip, go directly to the main output.

Initial Assessment

Check for product marketing context first:

If

.claude/product-marketing-context.md

or

.cursor/product-marketing-context.md

exists, read it for brand name, official domain, and key assets.

Identify:

Impersonation type

Fake website, phishing, trademark misuse, domain squatting

Evidence available

Screenshots, URLs, WHOIS, hosting info

Legal assets

Registered trademark, copyright ownership

Impact

Traffic interception (fake site ranks for brand queries)? Payment fraud (users pay on fake site, then contact official support)?

Evidence Collection Checklist

Item

Action

Full URLs

Document all key pages of the fake site

Screenshots

Homepage, product pages, logo, layout; include date/time

Comparison

Side-by-side: official vs fake (layout, logo, copy similarity)

WHOIS

Use

ICANN Lookup

for registrar, creation date, registrant

Hosting

IP lookup to identify hosting provider

Reporting Channels (Priority Order)

Channel

Entry

Use Case

Domain registrar

Abuse / Report Misuse on registrar site

Brand impersonation, trademark, fraud

Hosting provider

Same; submit abuse form

Hosting infringing content

Google Safe Browsing

Report Phishing

Phishing / impersonation risk

Google Trademark

Trademark Complaint

or

trademark@google.com

Trademark infringement in search; requires registered trademark

Bing Content Removal

Content Moderation Platform

Copyright/trademark; content removal from Bing

Payment processors

PayPal Resolution Center, Stripe support

If fake site accepts payments; report fraud

Social platforms

X, Facebook, Instagram abuse forms

If fake site is promoted or linked there

Google Ads / Microsoft Ads

Platform trademark complaint forms

If impersonator runs brand ads

DMCA

To hosting provider

Copyright infringement; images, copy, design copied

ICANN

DNS Abuse complaint

If registrar does not respond within reasonable time

Report content

Include full URL, clear description of fraudulent activity, and all evidence (screenshots, logs).

Reporting Best Practices

Registrar vs hosting

Use

ICANN Lookup

for registrar. For hosting, use IP lookup (HostingCheckerOnline, HostingDetector, ipinfo.io) to find origin server—registrar may be Cloudflare while origin host is elsewhere; report to both.

Cloudflare as registrar

Use

abuse.cloudflare.com

or

abuse form

; select "Phishing & Malware" for impersonation. Email complaints are generally not processed; use the online form. Provide specific URLs of infringing pages.

Hosting detection

Sites behind Cloudflare CDN hide origin IP. Use reverse IP lookup or hosting detection tools to identify underlying host; submit abuse to that provider as well.

Parallel reporting

Submit to registrar, host, and Google Safe Browsing simultaneously; do not wait for one before others. Google trademark review takes 1–8 weeks.

Legal Options

Option

When

Notes

Cease and desist

Trademark infringement

Lawyer-drafted; often first step

DMCA takedown

Copyrighted material copied

Images, copy, design; hosting providers typically comply

Consumer protection

Scam / fraud

FTC ReportFraud.ftc.gov (US)

Law enforcement

Financial loss, identity theft

IC3 (FBI) for cybercrime

Prevention Measures

Defensive Registration

Register brand+ai, brand+app, brand+official, etc. See

domain-selection

for defensive registration.

Redirect variants to main domain; do not deploy separate sites.

Official Site Verification

Place "Official website: [domain]" prominently:

Homepage

(above fold or hero)

Sign-in / Sign-up pages

Pricing / Payment pages

"Only pay at [official-domain]. Do not enter payment on other domains."

Footer

"© [Brand]. Official site: [domain]"

FAQ

"How do I verify I'm on the official site?" → "The only official URL is [domain]. Any other domain is not affiliated."

Use

trust-badges

for verification signals. See

about-page

for identity declaration.

Customer Support (Payment Fraud)

When users report "can't use after payment" but no record exists—likely paid on fake site:

Verify source

Ask which URL they used (request screenshot or URL).

Response template

Explain that the only official site is [official-domain]; if they paid elsewhere, that site is not affiliated. Recommend: (a) dispute charge with payment provider, (b) use only [official-domain] going forward.

Roll out

template to support team; ensure consistent messaging.

User Education

Social media pinned post / announcement: "Only use [official-domain]"

Email signatures, support replies: link to official domain only

Traffic Recovery (When Impersonation Intercepts Search)

Tactic

Purpose

Brand search ads

Run Google Ads and Microsoft Ads on brand terms; ensure official site appears first for brand queries

SEO

Strengthen official site for branded queries; Organization schema, clear H1, meta tags. See

schema-markup

,

title-tag

Social

Pinned post: "Only use [official-domain]. Beware of impersonation."

Monitoring (Ongoing)

Periodic search: brand name + common variants (e.g., brand+ai, brand+app)

Consider brand monitoring services (BrandShield, Doppel) for scale

Timeline (Typical)

Phase

Focus

Immediate (Days 1–3)

Support template; site declaration; evidence collection

Short-term (Week 1–2)

Abuse reports; Google Safe Browsing; DMCA if applicable

Traffic (Week 2+)

Brand ads; SEO; social announcement

Ongoing

Monitoring; defensive registration if feasible

Implementation Checklist

Short-term (1–2 weeks)

Evidence collection; abuse reports to registrar and host; Google Safe Browsing report; DMCA if applicable; add "Official website" on site.

Medium-term

Add impersonation guidance to domain-selection; official verification to trust-badges, about-page.

Long-term

Periodic search (brand + variants); brand monitoring (BrandShield, Doppel); defensive registration of variants. Output Format Evidence package (checklist, evidence list) Report templates (registrar, hosting, Google) Timeline (immediate vs medium vs long-term actions) Prevention (defensive registration, site verification, user education) References How to Report and Take Down a Fake Website - LegalClarity Website Spoofing: Detection and Take Down - BrandShield ICANN DNS Abuse Complaints Guide Google Safe Browsing - Report Phishing Cloudflare Abuse Reporting — use online form; select Phishing & Malware Google Trademark Complaint Bing Content Removal