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My website was Cloned!

by tadasuk
41 replies
Hi,

My website ipadhelp (dot) com was cloned today. I just found out as even the Adsense code was copied and the site appeared on my Adsense account.

The clone can be found here:
roadstarworld (dot) com

What is interesting that once I placed a comment on iPadhelp it also appeared on the cloned version.

How can I prevent this? Does anyone know if I could have any problems due to this and what should I do about this issue??

Any help will be greatly appreciated!
#cloned #website
  • Profile picture of the author OnlineAddict
    Looks like your post has been cloned, too, as its been posted twice.

    Why do you worry about the clone, if the guy was stupid enough to keep your adsense on? Hope that he is even more stupid and sends traffic to the website, so you can bank on it.
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  • Profile picture of the author BradVert2013
    Yeah, I wouldn't worry too much, especially if the person is using your Adsense code. It'll only make you more money.

    But I'm not sure about using the word "iPad" in your domain name. Apple is very protective of stuff like that, and is known to send out cease and desist letters to website owners using names that are trademarked.

    I hope I'm wrong though. Your website looks nice and I can see it being very profitable.
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    • Profile picture of the author travlinguy
      Originally Posted by BradVert2013 View Post

      Yeah, I wouldn't worry too much, especially if the person is using your Adsense code. It'll only make you more money.

      But I'm not sure about using the word "iPad" in your domain name. Apple is very protective of stuff like that, and is known to send out cease and desist letters to website owners using names that are trademarked.

      I hope I'm wrong though. Your website looks nice and I can see it being very profitable.
      You're not wrong. It's good advice. I think it's just a matter of time before the OP gets a polite (hopefully) tap on the shoulder from an industry giant.
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    • Profile picture of the author AffiliateWaves
      I think it is serious stuff

      First you are using protected keyword "IPad" in your domain name .

      Second you say clone site is using your adsense code and that site appears on your adsense account .I guess it is not possible because automatic addition of website to adsense account is not possible .You should remove clone site from your adsense account if it already there .Adsense algorithm is not so weak you can easily earn money from them ,they do a regular check ,if you are found guilty ,they will seize your account and all money .

      According to you , your clone site is exact copy means duplicate content,so you can be penalized by search engines.
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      • Profile picture of the author OnlineAddict
        Originally Posted by AffiliateWaves View Post

        According to you , your clone site is exact copy means duplicate content,so you can be penalized by search engines.
        He won't be penalized, he was first. Google's search algo is not smart, but not that stupid either, because then it would take $10 to get rid of any competitor.
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  • Profile picture of the author yoangov
    Since even your adsense is cloned, then it's good for you
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    • Profile picture of the author awsproduct
      opposite bro, the solution that you should use it's to report this to team of google adsense before your account be disable , so go ahead to report that to google now

      Originally Posted by yoangov View Post

      Since even your adsense is cloned, then it's good for you
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  • Profile picture of the author ZedyDiamond
    If the clone website is making money for you, you should send a personal thank you letter
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  • Profile picture of the author awesome786
    Hi, I'll suggest you to check the who is data for newly clone website and send a warning message to that bloody idiot to remove your website from that domain.Thanks
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  • Profile picture of the author FrankRumbauskas
    Just do a DMCA takedown. Or go to dmca.com and they'll do it for you for $199, I've used them before with good results since there are so many a-holes using my trademark "never cold call again" that cost me a small fortune to register for MY exclusive use.
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    • Profile picture of the author LilBlackDress
      This happened to me once also.

      My entire website (one that had a ton of posts and pics) was copied. However I was using a theme with a photo slider and that did not work on the copy. Other than that it was all copied. My links etc. were still in tact but they added some script at the bottom with their links. I discovered the copied site when I noticed a huge increase in traffic at StatCounter. They were buying traffic.

      I was not happy about it. For one thing I could not imagine Google looking to fondly on a completely duplicated website.

      I figured out who was hosting the copied site and reported it to the host company and it was taken down at no charge to me.
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      • Profile picture of the author RobinInTexas
        1. Get a new domain name and avoid the problems that could arise from having a trademark in your domain name
        2. contact the hosting company where the clone is and ask them to take it down.
        3. Notify adsense that your code is being used without your permission, or you risk having your adsense account cancelled FOREVER if they decide anything improper was going on at the other site. If you tell Google after they cancel your account it may be too late.
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    • Profile picture of the author savidge4
      Originally Posted by FrankRumbauskas View Post

      Just do a DMCA takedown. Or go to dmca.com and they'll do it for you for $199, I've used them before with good results since there are so many a-holes using my trademark "never cold call again" that cost me a small fortune to register for MY exclusive use.
      was going to ask if you really owned the TM, I did some quick research and found you do. What a trail you have left....

      BTW the term "Never cold call again" has been used 295 times on this forum, better get on that! oops 296 times now

      A trademark is only as valid as the pursuit of protection!

      WOW
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  • Profile picture of the author thn87
    I don't think your website was "cloned". The domain roadstarworld.com is redirecting traffic to your website. If you click on any of the links on the other website, it'll take you to your website.
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  • Profile picture of the author mediamarket
    DMCA is the rout to go.
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  • Profile picture of the author brutecky
    Originally Posted by tadasuk View Post


    What is interesting that once I placed a comment on iPadhelp it also appeared on the cloned version.
    Your site was not cloned. Its being scraped.
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  • Profile picture of the author SteveJohnson
    Just do a whois and call up the registered owner, see what's up. It's possible this is a hack job on the existing site, you never know.
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  • Profile picture of the author Aravind Murthy
    I am concerned about OP's DB password.
    If Tadasuk here is using mysql and the password is stored in some plain text config file, the cloner can get access to the original DB, if the cloner inspects config file (assuming hacker has been accessing source files).

    I suggest changing mysql password immediately, updating your config file with new password and hiding that config file outside your web root.

    If after doing that, you still see that the other site is getting cloned, you have a serious issue in hand (or may be just that the other domain is being forwarded to your site)
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  • Profile picture of the author arranrice
    1) Change the domain of your website. Maybe something like "TabletHelpDaily.com" or whatever.

    2) Someone cloning your site is very bad. Try and find the owner through WHOIS tools, send them an email. Find who hosts the site and contact their copyright department for them to take it down. Send a DCMA takedown request.

    3) Now you have done all you can. You should now beef up your security on the website.

    Use this plugin to disable right click and copy and paste -
    WordPress › WP Content Copy Protection « WordPress Plugins

    Use this plugin to improve security on your site -
    WordPress › Better WP Security « WordPress Plugins

    Hope this helps!
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  • Profile picture of the author seonutshell
    Cloned websites will get your adsense banned. Remove adsense on your site until you have this problem sorted.
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    • Profile picture of the author tadasuk
      Originally Posted by brutecky View Post

      Your site was not cloned. Its being scraped.
      How do you determine that? Is is because if I post an article or a comment and it appears directly on their site?

      If it is being scraped, I can use Cloudflare ScrapeShield to block the scraping....

      Why would someone scrape a website anyway?

      Originally Posted by thn87 View Post

      I don't think your website was "cloned". The domain roadstarworld.com is redirecting traffic to your website. If you click on any of the links on the other website, it'll take you to your website.
      Thanks for pointing that out. Any ideas why would that be?

      Originally Posted by seonutshell View Post

      Cloned websites will get your adsense banned. Remove adsense on your site until you have this problem sorted.
      I contacted Adsense and Google search about the cloned website. I also added my sites to Autorised Adsese site list, so my ads will only charge advertisers on clicks from authorised sites. Ofcourse the clone site is not authorised. That should be enough to protect myself from getting banned yes?

      Originally Posted by SteveJohnson View Post

      Just do a whois and call up the registered owner, see what's up. It's possible this is a hack job on the existing site, you never know.
      That is what I am worried about...
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      • Profile picture of the author jaze
        Your site is not cloned nor scrapped. Roadstarworld.com doesn't even host the content of your site on their own servers. They are just redirecting all traffic to their domain to your IP address. All pages are served from your server.

        Have you contacted them?
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        • Profile picture of the author tadasuk
          Originally Posted by jaze View Post

          Your site is not cloned nor scrapped. Roadstarworld.com doesn't even host the content of your site on their own servers. They are just redirecting all traffic to their domain to your IP address. All pages are served from your server.

          Have you contacted them?
          I have their number, so I will be giving them a call today.
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  • Profile picture of the author MarketSecretsBlogger
    Unfortunately it's easy to do by just right clicking to "view source" but you can insert a simple no right-clickng script so ppl don't see your code. But since even JVZoo haas products like SiteScraper which can clone any site and change the links while still making appear the same your main protection is to copyright your content first before the scraper!
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  • Profile picture of the author Aravind Murthy
    1. How about taking down your site for a short while and then try to access the other site? I think that will clarify whether this is a redirect or clone right away.

    2. And then may be you can have a dummy index file (homepage) at your site to say "Welcome to ipadhelp, original site.." and see if the other site also updates, assuming step 1 shows the other site as non redirect ?
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  • Profile picture of the author Doug9
    If you go to a website that has a "ping" utility, like I did, and test those two domain names you will see both of them are pointing to the same web server (yours).

    This can happen when the other domain is inactive but had previously been used and his old IP address happened to be the same as the one you are using now.

    But it is harmless. It wont do any harm to your Google account or anything.

    At the most, it will accidentally give you more traffic.
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  • Profile picture of the author rts2271
    First think I checked too Doug, possibly misconfigured apache if its on shared hosting. If its dedicated Doug is spot on.
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  • Profile picture of the author Moneymaker2012
    Well your site is cloned there is nothing to worry but it'll make you worried when your site penalized try to contact adsence team and ask them about your problem hope they can help you.
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  • Profile picture of the author texico
    What ? Ubeliavable. I heard they were doing this kind of stuff with Facebook profile but I didn't know they were doing with web-pages too.

    But I mean Google ban cloned web-page, right ? So what is the reason to make something like that, it should be useless.
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  • Profile picture of the author digitalsapien
    Wait what? LOL. They also cloned the Adsense code? You will be earning from that. Just be careful with Google penalizing your website..
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  • Profile picture of the author tadasuk
    Hi ALL,

    Thanks for the suggestions. Who ever said that the domain was pointing to my site due to some missconfiguration was correct.

    Problem is now sorted!
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  • Profile picture of the author dmarseller
    OMG!





    if you can not prove that you own the content you just have to search google: report duplicate items and have direct access to the customer care service of google for these cases.

    Also I recommend you do a Whois and contact the hosting and even the domain (if it is private information).

    I did it and the site was closed inmediatly (less than 5 days)
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  • Profile picture of the author Sitestomp
    Report it to their hosting company. Having your hard work ripped off is no fun, but there are definitely ways to deal with it.
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  • Profile picture of the author 07
    3 things to do are:
    Check his nameservers, find out his hoster and send them an abuse report+DMCA notice
    Check his domain reistrar and send them abuse report + DMCA notice
    Send him directly the abuse report + DMCA notice

    I think its more then enough to let him know you are serious and you WILL take it down whatever it takes.
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  • Profile picture of the author janicetalberty
    This is weird. How the person make money by cloning or re-directing to your site?

    What is the purpose? I'm curious
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  • Profile picture of the author Richard19
    Originally Posted by tadasuk View Post

    Hi,

    My website ipadhelp (dot) com was cloned today. I just found out as even the Adsense code was copied and the site appeared on my Adsense account.

    The clone can be found here:
    roadstarworld (dot) com

    What is interesting that once I placed a comment on iPadhelp it also appeared on the cloned version.

    How can I prevent this? Does anyone know if I could have any problems due to this and what should I do about this issue??

    Any help will be greatly appreciated!
    Hi i am a new member but my problem is related, i think
    When clicking on the link to my website Home from various browsers sometimes you are redirected to a link page with my website address shown in the tab at the top, this link page appears to be powered by AdSence some of my customers have commented on having difficulty accessing my site but we only recently discovered this for ourselves, the problem only occurs with some different routers but as the content of the bogus site is just links, someone somewhere is earning out of my sites hits
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