Your listing was cloned - the complete takedown playbook
Save evidence first (screenshot, saved page, URL, date), then run the right playbook: platform report form if the clone sits on a marketplace, DMCA notices to registrar and host if it has its own domain. Protect guests while it's live, and set up detection so the next clone lasts days, not months. This is practical guidance, not legal advice.
Step 1 - Evidence, before anything else
Clones vanish when reported. Save a full-page screenshot with the URL visible, save the page itself (Ctrl+S), and record the date. Platforms, providers, and victims' banks will all ask for this.
Step 2 - Identify the venue; pick the playbook
- Marketplace or classifieds board: use its IP-infringement or report form - specifics in reporting a fake rental site.
- Its own domain: rdap.org gives you registrar and host abuse contacts; send both a DMCA notice - full walkthrough in removing photos from a fake website.
Step 3 - Protect your guests while it's live
- Add "we never ask for payment outside this platform" to your genuine listing.
- Brief whoever answers enquiries; give them the clone URL.
- Point any victims to their bank's fraud-recall process immediately, and to reportfraud.ftc.gov or Action Fraud.
Step 4 - De-index and flag
File the clone URLs with Google's removal tool and flag the domain at Safe Browsing so browsers warn visitors even before the takedown lands.
Step 5 - Shorten the next clone's life
The managers who suffer least are the ones who find out fast. Monthly quote-searches of your distinctive sentences cost ten minutes; automated monitoring across four channels - photo fingerprints, text search, new-domain watching, classifieds diffs - plus a pre-filled takedown kit per detection is what Bikoosh exists for. Either way: prepared beats surprised.
Related guides
- My property's photos are on a fake website - how do I remove them?
- How property managers can monitor for stolen listings
- Someone copied my Airbnb listing - what do I do?
Worried about a specific listing? The free checker compares it against registered properties in about a minute. Property manager? Bikoosh watches your portfolio.