Hello everyone, I’m Mike and I run Desert Wear Co, a clothing company here in America.
About 2 months back, customers started telling us about a fake “Desert Wear Co” website. These scammers were running paid promotions, offering fake product packages, and even using our customer service email to look real. They collect money but never send products. Now more than 1,500 people across Canada got ripped off and keep emailing us angry messages because they think we did this to them.
We filed reports everywhere we could think of: Shopify’s abuse department, copyright violations, the domain registrar, search engines, their mobile app, the advertising platforms, you name it.
I did some research and found out the scammers are operating from Mexico. The ads, website registration, and even found someone’s social media profile connected to it. These same people targeted our brand before but Shopify responded faster that time and only about 600-700 people got scammed. Now even though we sent many support tickets and asked supervisors to help, the fake store is still running. The strange part is when we reported another scam attempt (same criminals trying to target customers in New Zealand) they removed it within days.
I’m really angry about this whole mess. If Shopify had done something earlier, all these people wouldn’t have lost their money. They’re basically allowing this to continue happening.
What can I do now? I need any suggestions you have. Both for fixing this current problem and preventing future attacks. I really wish I knew someone who works at Shopify directly.
damn mike that sucks big time. try reaching out to shopify on twitter publicly - companies hate bad publicity and usually respond faster when its visible. also contact your local news station, they love stories about small businesses getting screwed by scammers. the bad press might finally get shopify moving on this
This happened to my buddy’s supplement company last year. What finally worked was escalating through Shopify’s Partner program. If you know any developers or agencies that are Shopify Partners, ask them to flag this internally - they’ve got direct channels regular merchants can’t access. Partner reps take this stuff seriously since it makes their platform look bad. Document everything these scammers are doing and file a complaint with the FTC - it’s international fraud hitting US customers. They can coordinate with Canadian authorities. For quick relief, buy Google Ads for your brand name so your real site shows up first. Yeah, it sucks paying to compete with scammers using your name, but it stops more people from finding the fake site. The trademark advice is spot on - without it you’re just another business complaining about copycats.
Mike, this is absolutely infuriating and I’ve watched similar cases drag on for months. Since Shopify’s regular support isn’t helping, try going straight to their legal department instead of filing more abuse reports. Send them a formal cease and desist with all your evidence - legal threats usually get way faster responses than support tickets. For damage control right now, post warnings on your social media and website homepage about the fake site. Include their URL so customers can spot it when they’re checking you out. Won’t kill the scam, but it’ll protect your reputation. For next time, get your trademark registered - it gives you way more leverage for takedowns. Also look into monitoring services that ping you when someone registers domains with your brand name. Costs extra but sounds like you need it since these guys keep coming back.