Abuse of the own webshop
Are you sure that you operate your webshop alone?
In times of digitization it is extremely tempting to offer its products online - this has several advantages. No sales room is needed, offers are available around the clock and there are no annoying sales pitches. Sounds good at first? Of course! As long as there are no problems with the operation of the shop ...
That is how it happened to one of our clients who runs an online shop. He was beset by angry customers who wanted to know where the ordered goods were. Completely surprised our client had to announce that no orders have been received.
Scammers have chosen our clients to recreate their webshop in detail. The product descriptions, the product images and a very appealing layout were taken over. Even the imprint was taken over to give the impression that the company of our client operates the website.
After the order process was completed, the website - which, of course, had a completely different domain - displayed a summary of the order and immediately asked the customers to pay. Since the order entry seemed extremely reputable, many customers paid promptly. It was not even surprising that the payments should be made via bank transfer and the IBAN did not start with DE (for Germany). In truth, all funds went to the Baltic States. Now it was understandable that our clientele did not want to offer this.
First, a so-called whois query should be performed to find out who is behind the page. However, it is important to know that the information can be manipulated very easily in the context of a whois query. What can not be manipulated so easily, however, is the entry of the registrar. Based on this information we were able to find out that the website is hosted in the USA.
With the information, so who the registrar, it is very easy to contact the provider of the website. Here we could quickly submit a so-called DMCA takedown request, so that the website is taken off the net.
Normally already. The registrar was (to say the least) a particularly lazy registrar. This required the involvement of the US regulator for registrars (ICANN).
It is the job of ICANN to take care of such problems. After submitting the complaint, so that the registrar does not move, we have been promised within 96 hours that we will address the issue. With this trick, it is quite possible to persuade the still unwilling registrar to tackle the problem.
Within four days after we reported to the supervisory authority ICANN, then the website was already off the net.
Yes, there is much to note. For example, it should be clear how to formulate a DMCA takedown request. Also, knowing what happens when the registrar is sitting in a country other than the US, for example, is much more complicated in Russia, and much more.
It is advisable in such cases urgently turn to a lawyer experienced in IT law, if you need to quickly take the website off the net or want.
Especially in the case of problems with a foreign registrar, it is hardly possible to get the situation under control quickly without a lawyer - with the appropriate experience.
Should you have questions about IT law you are ours Attorney Stephen Hendel gladly to the side. We support you quickly and competently in the enforcement of your rights!