How to shut down a copycat or scam website

When can a whole website be taken down?

Most takedowns remove a page, a photo or a post. Taking down an entire site is a bigger ask, and the companies that can do it, mainly hosts, need a good reason. Common ones are:

• The site is built on your stolen content, like a copy of your whole website, or a site full of your photos, videos or articles.
• The site copies many people's work, like a piracy site, and keeps ignoring takedown notices.
• The site sells counterfeits using your brand name, logo or product photos.
• The site pretends to be your business to trick customers into paying or handing over login or card details.

If only one or two pages use your content, you don't need the whole site gone. Follow our guide on getting stolen content removed from a website instead. It's faster.

Only need the copyright basics? Our FAQ How do I get a website taken down? covers them.

Sites that post negative reviews, criticism or opinions you disagree with usually can't be taken down through these routes. False and damaging claims are a defamation matter for a lawyer.

Who can take a website down

Four companies have a say, and each can do something different:

• The site owner can remove the content, but sites built on stolen content rarely do it willingly.
• The hosting company runs the server the site lives on. It's usually the one that can take a whole site offline, and it decides based on its own policies and the evidence in front of it.
• The domain registrar sold the domain name. It can suspend the domain so the site stops loading, but it mostly acts on fraud, phishing and malware rather than copyright alone.
• Search engines can't take a site offline, but they can remove its pages from results, so far fewer people ever find it.

Working out which host and registrar a site really uses is where many cases stall. Sites that want to avoid complaints often hide their host, for example behind Cloudflare. See sites that use Cloudflare.

What a strong case looks like

Hosts don't take whole sites down on a hunch. They need to see that the site is built on infringement, not that it has one copied page. A strong case usually shows:

• Every infringing page, each matched to your original.
• Dated screenshots of the site.
• Proof that your content came first.
• A record of earlier notices the site ignored.

Putting that together for dozens or hundreds of pages is the slow part, and it's where most people get stuck.

If someone copied your entire website

Finding your whole website, with your words, photos and design, running on someone else's domain is one of the most common reasons a whole site can come down.

Signs your site has been copied

• A sudden drop in search rankings or traffic with no obvious cause.
• Your own text turning up on another domain when you search a sentence from your site in quotes.
• Customers mentioning orders, emails or accounts you don't recognize.
• An unfamiliar domain showing up in your analytics.

Why people copy whole websites

• To steal search traffic. A copy can pick up visitors who were looking for you, and sometimes outranks the original.
• To run a fake store. Your products and photos with the scammer's checkout, so customers pay for orders that never arrive.
• To phish. A lookalike login or payment page to collect passwords or card details.
• To save effort. Someone wants a site like yours without building one.

If the copy takes payments or logins under your name, it's a scam. Start with scam and phishing sites.

Proving you're the original

Dated evidence that your site came first helps a host act. Older versions of your pages in the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine, your domain registration date, and dated files or invoices from when the site was built all count.

Protecting your search rankings

Google is usually good at working out which site is the original, but copies sometimes rank, especially on a domain with more history than yours. Don't rewrite your site to get away from the copy. You're the original, and changing your content makes that harder to prove. Getting the copied pages out of Google protects your rankings while the site itself is dealt with.

Want to make your site harder to copy next time? See how to protect your website from content theft.

Scam and phishing sites

If a site copies your business to take payments, steal logins or collect card details, treat it as fraud first and copyright second. Your customers are at risk, so speed matters most.

• Don't enter any real details on the copy to test it.
• Report it to the host and the registrar as fraud or phishing, with screenshots of the payment or login page.
• Report it to Google as a phishing or scam site. If Google confirms it, many browsers can warn visitors before the page loads.
• Warn your customers by email and on social media, and remind them of your real web address.
• If customers lost money, encourage them to contact their bank, and consider reporting it to the police.

Cutting off search traffic

Getting a whole site offline can take time. Getting its pages out of Google means far fewer people find it in the meantime, and it keeps a copy of your site from competing with you in search. Google only acts on requests that list the infringing pages precisely and show what was copied. See how removing a webpage from Google works.

Why whole-site takedowns are harder

• Hosts look harder. Taking a whole site offline is a bigger decision than removing one page, so hosts review these cases more carefully.
• Some sites pick hosts that ignore complaints, often in countries with weaker enforcement.
• Sites move. A site pushed off one host can reappear on another host or a new domain, and the case starts again there.
• Registrars rarely act on copyright alone, so they're no shortcut for a copied site.
• Notices go unanswered. Without follow-up, a whole-site case can stall for weeks.

If a site is causing serious harm to your business, a lawyer can tell you whether court orders are an option where you are. DMCA.com is not a law firm.

How long does it take?

Whole-site cases usually take longer than single-page removals, because hosts review them more carefully. In the cases our team handles, most come down within 24 to 48 hours, and the average is 5 to 10 business days. Rare cases can take a month or longer, especially with sites overseas or built to dodge requests. No one can honestly guarantee a time frame.

Common questions

More quick answers in our FAQ: I found a negative review of me online and Will a DMCA takedown work in other countries?