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

Project context: Read root contextus.md when present and load only the modules relevant to this task. Without Contextus, use available project material or user-provided facts and ask for missing information; do not create a parallel context system.

Identify:

1. Impersonation type: Fake website, phishing, trademark misuse, domain squatting
2. Evidence available: Screenshots, URLs, WHOIS, hosting info
3. Legal assets: Registered trademark, copyright ownership
4. 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:

1. Verify source: Ask which URL they used (request screenshot or URL).
2. 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.
3. 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)
• See brand-monitoring for monitoring setup, tool selection, and cadence

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

Related Skills

• domain-selection: Defensive domain registration; brand variants
• rebranding-strategy: When rebranding, sync brand protection checks
• brand-monitoring: Proactive monitoring setup; tool selection; this skill = reactive takedown
• branding: Brand asset protection; consistency
• trust-badges: Official site verification signals
• about-page: Official identity and domain declaration
• homepage-generator: "Official website" placement
• google-ads, paid-ads-strategy: Brand search ads for traffic recovery
• schema-markup, title-tag: SEO for branded queries