Take Downs for Impersonating Websites

[malcolm]

Anyone with any experience of this? For my new company (that doesn't have a bank account so can not contribute to the economy but hopefully has broken through some of the red tape) the bank asked me if the website they found by searching the company name was mine. I told them no and promptly set up a website to hopefully appear in Google search for the company name.

What I think is happening is as soon as you register a company someone will set up a website impersonating you and try to sell you the domain name. Buy the domain name before you set up the company! In this case they chose a domain unlikely to be sellable. Problem for me is their site is all marketing speak and that would give my customers a really bad impression if they fell for the scam.

I started off with the Google form to remove the scam website from their search. There were limited options and I chose copyright as the name is mine. They sent a message rejecting that.

So I looked up the whois. I think the domain host is Hostinger and we are still in communication.

The server appears to be Google Cloud and there is another form for that. I've filled it in and chose fraud this time and called impersonation a fraud. All the other options were to do with the Online Safety Act.

The registrant is protected by Privacy Protect but their form error message claims they don't protect the details on this domain (whois suggests otherwise). I'm trying a few more potential emails for them.

What I guess is happening is some company has reserved a domain name that they will never pay for, have reserved the Privacy Protect that they will never pay for, and are probably causing everyone who registers a new company in the UK a lost day.

I would like to cause them some trouble. I have suggested what might be happening to the companies I have contacted and suggested they might like to ban these people from their services.

I really doubt any of this will work. I'll probably need to be paying for a take down service that knows the legal words. Anyone done this sort of thing before?

 

[gaz1]

from my review if theve beaten you to that name say .com then its theres and theres nothing you can do about it

you can create your own name via another website via a different website address like .co.uk

as goes for the clone of your site you can use a reference of dont use that site as you are not affiliated with it

 

[Mark 5]

Anyone with any experience of this? For my new company (that doesn't have a bank account so can not contribute to the economy but hopefully has broken through some of the red tape) the bank asked me if the website they found by searching the company name was mine. I told them no and promptly set up a website to hopefully appear in Google search for the company name.

What I think is happening is as soon as you register a company someone will set up a website impersonating you and try to sell you the domain name. Buy the domain name before you set up the company! In this case they chose a domain unlikely to be sellable. Problem for me is their site is all marketing speak and that would give my customers a really bad impression if they fell for the scam.

I started off with the Google form to remove the scam website from their search. There were limited options and I chose copyright as the name is mine. They sent a message rejecting that.

So I looked up the whois. I think the domain host is Hostinger and we are still in communication.

The server appears to be Google Cloud and there is another form for that. I've filled it in and chose fraud this time and called impersonation a fraud. All the other options were to do with the Online Safety Act.

The registrant is protected by Privacy Protect but their form error message claims they don't protect the details on this domain (whois suggests otherwise). I'm trying a few more potential emails for them.

What I guess is happening is some company has reserved a domain name that they will never pay for, have reserved the Privacy Protect that they will never pay for, and are probably causing everyone who registers a new company in the UK a lost day.

I would like to cause them some trouble. I have suggested what might be happening to the companies I have contacted and suggested they might like to ban these people from their services.

I really doubt any of this will work. I'll probably need to be paying for a take down service that knows the legal words. Anyone done this sort of thing before?

Hang on, as I understand things, unless your company is " Dormant " and there are thousands of those in the UK, which don't need a bank account as they are non-trading, you still have to summit account/s to that effect.

You can't call yourself a " company ", refer to as one or trade as one, legally, unless it's registered and having done so, that ' company ' among other things, must have a registered office and email address connected directly to said company at which time you can ask whichever bank you choose to open a " Company Account ".

It wasn't always this way but now a days I would be surprised if any bank would accept opening a company account without those 3 things in place first.

IMO DIY starting a company and associated website, come up with 6 unique names for your company, register the web site first, use only one hosting company to find if its taken and if name not taken, jump at it, get it registered and set up an email address associated with the website then register the company at companies house.

 

[MetalMonkey]

I don't really see you have much recourse in all honesty.
Nothing says you have exclusivity to a domain or company name, other than you can't have the same name on companies house, but you can certainly have very similar ones.

Like you say, register the domain (and any social media for that matter) before you register your company and advertise.

Your best options now are either, change your company name or register an alternative TLD and put up a proper website which will hopefully crawl up the google rankings and become the obvious choice.

 

[masleeve]

There are companies out there that just register domain names for companies they see on the register in the hope that you will buy them from them . Often people buy the .co.uk and someone snaps up the .com .biz etc etc . Then offer you the domain for a cost .

 

[malcolm]

I may have written unclearly. There is a website impersonating my limited company and they use my full company name including the Ltd part on their page and their URL. I don't need their domain name - I just want them taken down.

I'm getting the run around from complaints forms and emails. Another grand on legal stuff then.

 

[roofman]

I may have written unclearly. There is a website impersonating my limited company and they use my full company name including the Ltd part on their page and their URL.

I'm getting the run around from complaints forms and emails. Another grand on legal stuff then.

Now i see your grief more clearly Malcolm, that is just wrong that someone can infringe so close to a legitement trading company...its no different than having a shop in the high street and someone moves next door with the same trading name. Worst part is it seems under current law there is nothing you can do which must be very frustrating. I had the very same thing with my website, identical company name as mine but thankfully was based in Florida USA.

 

[8ob]

I may have written unclearly. There is a website impersonating my limited company and they use my full company name including the Ltd part on their page and their URL. I don't need their domain name - I just want them taken down.

I'm getting the run around from complaints forms and emails. Another grand on legal stuff then.

Report the site to Google ( with evidence) as being a scam and spend your 1k on SEO. If you are the first to pop up nobody will look further.

Bob

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

I should say up front that I know nothing about this stuff!...but could you register your brand as a trademark maybe?...then go down the infringement route if someone copies your brand.

Probably best to get some legal advice on it.

 

[voipio]

There might be some useful info here:

Brand impersonation

My organisation is being impersonated online.

www.ncsc.gov.uk

There is a whole industry out there, that have essentially grabbed huge numbers of domain names to sell on at significant profit. Maybe a law needs to be brought in forbidding anyone from obtaining a domain name, without reasonable provable claim to the name.

 

[Robbie260]

I do know a few people that have speculative domain investment as a way of making money or getting into partnerships in business. Some were guys that had an idea and didn’t have the financial backing to follow through on it so they laid all the web based ground work , (cheap, easy, no chance of losing big) in the hope someone would have the exact same idea at some point and buy them out or bring them into the Buissness. Don’t know of anyone that’s ever scored big from it mind.

 

[Robotstar5]

There might be some useful info here:

Brand impersonation

My organisation is being impersonated online.

www.ncsc.gov.uk

There is a whole industry out there, that have essentially grabbed huge numbers of domain names to sell on at substantial profit. Maybe a law needs to be brought in forbidding anyone from obtaining a domain name, without reasonable provable claim to the name.

Folks were registering domain names in the 90's when the www was taking off in the hope of selling them at a profit, a memorable one was diy.com which Kingfisher group (B&Q, Screwfix etc.) spent many millions to buy.

 

[roofman]

Folks were registering domain names in the 90's when the www was taking off in the hope of selling them at a profit, a memorable one was diy.com which Kingfisher group (B&Q, Screwfix etc.) spent many millions to buy.

i was guilty myself of buying a dozen or so...missed all the big name . coms as come in too late to the party.

 

[gaz1]

I may have written unclearly. There is a website impersonating my limited company and they use my full company name including the Ltd part on their page and their URL. I don't need their domain name - I just want them taken down.

I'm getting the run around from complaints forms and emails. Another grand on legal stuff then.

the only recoarse i could use is report with the fraud department

reference/ impersonating , fraudulent, scam,

Brand impersonation

My organisation is being impersonated online.

www.ncsc.gov.uk

Report a suspicious website

If you have visited a website you think is trying to scam you, report it to the NCSC and we'll investigate.

www.ncsc.gov.uk

 

[Seadog]

Have there not been instances where a business has demonstrated a perfect right to a domain name by virtue of their business name, which has been upheld by a court? This does, of course, mean spending money to chase it through law.

Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy Guide

Find out the key informaiton you need to know about the Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy in the UK.

www.adlexsolicitors.co.uk

 

[malcolm]

It's not the domain name that bothers me. It is the fact that on their page they have used my unique company name in full in the title and text (including the Ltd) bit with the aim of impersonating my company.

That is not legal, however the law is only for rich people and lawyers.

 

[Kayos]

Having missed out on a domain in a previous venture I registered mine plus variations and an as yet unused but linked domain at the same time as registering the company

Yours sounds like cut and dry fraud, I have never had any luck getting Google to do anything useful, even when it has been Illegal/fraud

 

[gaz1]

It's not the domain name that bothers me. It is the fact that on their page they have used my unique company name in full in the title and text (including the Ltd) bit with the aim of impersonating my company.

That is not legal, however the law is only for rich people and lawyers.

this is the part that bugs me they can do something about it really easily

they do it all the time with sharing sites or with watch online sites that get court banned infact many sites are just being blocked by the internet owners themselves

even google is blocking sites and yet they dont want to do anything about a fraud site makes a mockery out of the system itself

but when it comes to fraud they do absolutley nothing your fair game the same can be said for the scam phonecalls and scam sites that are out there

there doing nothing to stop them and when you try and do something its like flogging a dead item

its just as bad as the age verification gift all your details to a site thats at risk