Your landing page, pre-lander, or channel was stolen: how to find where the copy is hosted and where to report it for removal

You built a pre-lander, it is converting, and a week later the same pre-lander is running on someone else’s domain with someone else’s link. Or a clone of your channel has appeared on Telegram and is collecting money from subscribers in your name.

You can remove the copy. You need to find out whose server hosts it and write to them in a way that keeps the ticket from being closed by the first automated reply. At Lawyerd, we do this every day: we take down cloned websites and fake channels through hosting providers and platforms. Below is the process and figures from our correspondence with hosting providers.

When filing a complaint makes sense

Spy services have made copying the norm, and reporting every stolen ad creative is pointless. A complaint pays off when a copy is taking your money or damaging your reputation:

• your landing page or pre-lander has been copied in full to someone else’s domain;
• a copy of your website or white page ranks in search alongside or above the original;
• a clone of your channel or a “manager” using your avatar sells subscribers something you never sold;
• your paid guide, course, or software is being distributed or resold.

Before filing your first complaint, check three things.

You can only report your own content. A hosting provider removes a copy based on copyright, and copyright protects what you created: texts, design, layout, photos, and videos that you shot or commissioned. An advertiser’s logo and promo on your landing page are not yours. If the pre-lander is assembled from someone else’s materials, your complaint will be weak and may draw attention to your own page.

A complaint is not anonymous. A copyright notice must include the claimant’s name and contact details. Cloudflare forwards the complaint to the hosting provider and the website owner, while hosting providers forward it to their client. Assume the person who copied you will see who reported them. File on behalf of a company or through a representative, using a working email address.

You are liable for knowingly false complaints. In the notice, you confirm that the information is accurate. In the US, the law (17 U.S.C. § 512(f)) allows damages and legal fees to be recovered from a claimant who knowingly makes a false infringement claim. Trying to take down a competitor with a complaint about someone else’s content is a bad idea.

Document the copy before filing your first complaint

The copy may change or disappear on the same day the complaint is forwarded to its owner. So start with evidence:

• a screenshot of the entire page with the URL and time;
• the page source code and a copy in a web archive;
• everything the copy leads to next: the offer link, tracker parameters, affiliate ID;
• the same evidence from the device and GEOs the copy targets.

The last point matters more than it seems. The abuse department will open the link from its office IP and, if the copy uses cloaking, will see a white page. In our correspondence, the most common reason for rejection is “we do not see a violation”: 28 rejections out of 83. Attach screenshots or a screen recording from the required GEO and device, and state directly under what conditions the copy appears.

Also collect proof that the original is yours and appeared earlier: the domain registration date, the first copy in a web archive, source files with dates, correspondence with a designer or contractor.

Our free evidence documentation tool (in English) collects screenshots, code, file hashes, and an archived copy in a couple of minutes.

Find where the copy is hosted

The party that can take down a website is the one whose server hosts it, meaning the hosting provider. A domain registrar does not store content and usually does not respond to copyright complaints.

Here is the process:

1. Find the domain’s IP: use the nslookup domain command or any online DNS service.
2. Check WHOIS to see who owns the IP. The record lists the network owner and an abuse contact address.
3. If the network owner is Cloudflare, you are looking at a proxy, not the hosting provider. What to do is described in the next section.

Our free abuse contact lookup does the same thing: paste in a link, and it identifies the hosting provider and, after a short form, shows the complaint address and an email draft. It will also tell you if the site is hidden behind a proxy or hosted on a platform with its own complaint form.

Quick diagnostics

If there are several copies, include all domains in one complaint and show what connects them: the same layout, one tracker, one affiliate ID. In our experience, a complaint covering the entire batch is more convincing than ten separate ones.

A copy behind Cloudflare

Cloudflare sits in front of many copies, and this is where people often stop: WHOIS shows only Cloudflare, so it seems there is nowhere to write. There is.

File the complaint through the abuse.cloudflare.com form, under the copyright infringement category. Here is what happens next:

• Cloudflare does not remove what it does not host. It forwards the complaint to the website owner and hosting provider.
• In its reply, it usually names the hosting provider behind the site. In our cases, replies arrive within an hour for more than 99% of complaints, with a median of about 12 minutes.
• If the copy is built on Cloudflare’s own services (Pages, Workers), it is the hosting provider for that copy and can disable it itself.

Three mistakes that waste time:

• Writing to Cloudflare by email. It replies, “use the form.”
• Replying to its automated email. It comes from a no-reply address. None of our 14 replies to it worked.
• Waiting after Cloudflare replies. Forwarding alone rarely gets anything removed. Once you have the hosting provider’s name, write to it directly.

Sometimes the hosting provider replies: “the site is behind Cloudflare, this is not for us.” In that case, quote Cloudflare’s reply with the report number where it identifies that provider as the host for the domain.

What to write to the hosting provider

An abuse department handles a stream of emails, and it is easier to close a vague complaint than investigate it. A good complaint includes:

• Exact URLs. Put each page on a separate line, without “the entire site” or a link to the homepage.
• The original. A link to your page and the date it was published.
• What exactly was copied. Texts, layout, images, videos, with examples.
• One basis. Copyright separately, trademark separately. In our practice, mixed complaints were returned or rejected.
• Statements and signature. You are the rights holder or its representative, use is unauthorized, and the information is accurate. Full name, company, contact details.
• How to view the copy, if it uses cloaking: GEO, device, screenshots.

Write in English and keep it short. Based on our data, threats of legal action add nothing. Attach documents when they ask for them.

Template:

Subject: Copyright infringement notice: domain

To the abuse team,

I am the copyright owner of the content published at your URL
(first published on date). The pages below, hosted on your network,
reproduce it without authorization.

Infringing URLs:
URL 1
URL 2

Original work: your URL
What is copied: page text / layout and design / images / video

The copy is shown to visitors from country on mobile devices.
Screenshots are attached.

I have a good faith belief that the use of the material described above
is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law.
The information in this notice is accurate, and under penalty of perjury,
I am the copyright owner or am authorized to act on the owner's behalf.

Please disable access to the material and confirm.

Full name, company, email, phone

What the hosting provider will reply and what to do next

From April through October 2026, we reviewed nearly three thousand replies from hosting providers and platforms to our complaints. Here is what comes in:

Less than 1% more are tickets closed without explanation.

Half of replies are automated, and that is normal: your complaint has been accepted. Takedowns are lost in the second step. The hosting provider asks a question, the claimant does not answer it or stays silent, and the ticket gets closed.

What they ask for most often (459 emails, with some containing several requests):

• file the complaint through a form or portal: 173;
• explain what the violation is: 132;
• provide exact URLs: 98;
• show the original: 46;
• confirm your rights: 40.

What worked in the reviewed sample of our manual replies:

• sending a list of exact URLs: removal in 12 out of 19 cases;
• sending the rights documents requested by the hosting provider: 9 out of 16;
• after “forwarded to the client,” briefly writing in the same ticket, “the page is still accessible, your client has not contacted us,” and attaching a screenshot: 5 out of 11.

What did not work:

• arguing against a direct rejection: 1 removal in 24 attempts;
• replying to no-reply addresses: 0 out of 14.

When a hosting provider says “forwarded to the client,” it gives the copy owner time to respond. In our correspondence, that is most often 48-72 hours.

And separately, about “removed.” In 18% of cases, the page was still accessible to us after such an email. Check it yourself, from the same GEO and device, then check again in a week or two: copies like to move.

A Telegram channel clone

There is no hosting provider here, Telegram itself decides everything. There are three routes:

• The “Report” button on the channel and on specific posts. It is fast, but a single complaint is easy to miss.
• dmca@telegram.org if the clone republishes your posts, images, and videos. Telegram accepts such complaints only for public channels, bots, and groups, and only from the rights holder or its representative. Your email must include a link to the clone, links to the copied posts, and links to the originals in your channel.
• @NoToScam if someone is impersonating you: a cloned channel or a “manager” using your name. Telegram may place a FAKE or SCAM label on such an account or channel. There is also abuse@telegram.org for reports of illegal content.

Honestly, about the results: Telegram rarely replies to emails and does so slowly, so we would not rely on a single email. Submit reports through all three channels at once and, in parallel, do what depends on you: pin a warning with a link to the only real channel, and post the same text on your website and team profiles.

If the hosting provider stays silent

Some hosting providers do not respond to complaints at all, which is why they are chosen. In that case, you need to pressure what the copy cannot earn without.

• Search. If the copy gets traffic from Google, file a copyright complaint through the legal removal request form. The page will disappear from search results even if the hosting provider stays silent. Keep in mind that Google sends copies of such complaints to the public Lumen website, where the copy owner can view them too.
• Affiliate network. See where the copy drives traffic. If it uses an affiliate program link, write to the program’s support team and attach evidence: the copy, your original, and the affiliate ID from the link. Program rules usually prohibit infringing other parties’ rights, and the risk of losing a payout often affects the copy owner more than an email from the hosting provider.
• Ad network. If the copy is being promoted with ads using your creative, report it to the network itself through its copyright form. In our experience, emails to Meta do not get through, and it does not accept a link to an entire profile: you need links to specific posts and screenshots.
• Registrar. Registrars rarely respond to copyright complaints. The exception is phishing. If the copy collects logins, payment details, or money in your name, the registrar of a domain in a generic top-level domain (.com, .net, and similar) has been required under its agreement with ICANN since April 2024 to take action in proven cases.

Summary

• Report what you created yourself, and remember that a complaint is not anonymous.
• Before filing your first complaint, preserve the copy: screenshots, code, archive, and views from the required GEO and device.
• Identify the hosting provider by IP. If the site is behind Cloudflare, start with the Cloudflare form, then write to the hosting provider it names.
• Your complaint should include: exact URLs, the original, what was copied, one basis, statements, and a signature.
• An automated reply is not a rejection. Answer exactly the hosting provider’s question and do so in the same ticket.
• Check “removed” yourself. If the hosting provider stays silent, go to search, the affiliate network, and the ad network.

FAQ

Can you file a complaint anonymously?
No. The claimant’s name and contact details are included in the complaint, and it is forwarded to the website owner. File on behalf of a company or through a representative.

Do you need a registered trademark?
You do not need one for copied content: copyright arises without registration. You will need a trademark if only your name or logo was taken and nothing was copied, or if the hosting provider asks you to confirm your rights to the brand.

How long does it take?
If the hosting provider responds to complaints, it takes days, sometimes a couple of weeks. Some hosting providers never reply, and then the routes from section 8 apply.

A complaint was filed against me. What should I do?
Do not ignore the hosting provider’s email. It gives you time to respond, most often 48-72 hours, and silence may result in a shutdown. If the complaint is false, respond on the merits and show what proves the content is yours. If your page was removed under the DMCA, you can file a counter-notification.

Lawyerd is a legal brand protection service. We find cloned websites, fake channels, and copied content and take them down through hosting providers and platforms. Free tools: hosting provider abuse contact lookup and evidence documentation.

This material is for informational purposes and does not replace legal advice. Platform forms and rules change, so check the current versions before filing.