Warn shoppers on a clone of your store

Some clones show your real store through another web address. This is a live mirror of your store, and shoppers can think it is you. Recon can put a warning at the top of that fake website, so shoppers know it is not your store. The warning is off until you turn it on, one clone at a time.

The shopper warning is on every plan, Free and Pro.

What shoppers see

When the warning is on, shoppers on the clone see a red bar at the top of each page:

⚠ This is not the official [your store name] website. Do not enter personal or payment details.

Visit the official site →

Visit the official site links to your real store. The words are fixed. You cannot change them, and the theme editor has no settings for the bar.

Before you start

The warning needs the Clone detection app embed to be on in your live theme. If it is off, turn it on first. See Turn on clone detection in your theme.

Turn on the warning

In Recon, open Clones.
Find the clone and click View case.
Find Warn shoppers on this site, and click Warn shoppers.

The button changes to Stop warning. Recent activity on the Overview page shows "You turned on the shopper warning for" and the clone’s address.

The bar can take up to about 5 minutes to appear. A shopper who is already on the clone may not see it until they open the site again.

You can turn on the warning from any clone case or lookalike domain case. Each case covers one web address.

When the warning shows, and when it does not

The bar only shows on a site that loads your store’s pages, such as a live mirror, or a copy that still runs clone detection from your theme. Recon cannot add it to a fake site that someone built from scratch.

If Recon has not seen the site load your store’s pages, the case says: "The bar only appears if this site loads your store’s pages. Recon hasn’t seen that here yet." You can still turn the warning on. It shows if the site starts to load your pages.

It never shows on your own store

The warning never shows on your own domains. Recon checks every domain your store uses before it shows the bar. It also never shows on translation services, web archives, the Shop app or other services that show your store to shoppers.

If you dismiss the case, or mark the domain as yours, Recon turns the warning off for that address. See Dismiss a case or mark a domain as yours.

Turn off the warning

Open the clone’s case.
Under Warn shoppers on this site, click Stop warning.

The bar can take up to about 5 minutes to go away.

Keep reporting the clone

The warning does not take the clone down. It only tells shoppers that the site is fake. Keep sending the reports on the case. The host or the registrar decides whether to remove the site.

Report a clone of your store: send the reports that can get the clone taken down.
Turn on clone detection in your theme: the warning needs clone detection to be on.
Dismiss a case or mark a domain as yours: close a case, which also turns the warning off.