A fake online store with your name? Here's how to help your customer - MisterChat

A fake online store with your name. So what?

Imagine: it’s late November. An angry customer emails to say his order never arrived. He paid for it, he has a confirmation, but his order isn’t in your system anywhere. He didn’t order from you. He ordered from a site that looked exactly like your online store.

To you, it’s fraud committed by someone else. To your customer, you’re the point of contact.

 

1.2 million victims, and the peak is yet to come

According to Thuiswinkel.org, 1.2 million Dutch people fell victim to scams involving fake online stores in 2025, more than the previous year. The trade association is seeing an unprecedented surge in fraud, particularly in the run-up to Black Friday. That’s why Thuiswinkel.org launched Scam Protection on October 8. The service, developed by Brandsolo, continuously detects fake online stores and counterfeit brand domains. If your brand is being misused, you’ll receive a notification and the fake site can be taken offline.

That’s good news. But a fake site that goes offline today has already attracted customers yesterday. And according to Brandsolo, smaller brands are also being copied more and more often.

What comes into your customer service department

Thuiswinkel.org lists three consequences for legitimate online stores: damage to reputation, loss of revenue, and additional questions from consumers. Those questions end up with your customer service team. And they’re not just ordinary questions:

  • “Is this really your site?” from someone who’s unsure before checking out.
  • “Where’s my order?” from someone who paid on the fake site.
  • An angry review or comment on social media from someone who feels they’ve been scammed by you.

Behind every question is someone who feels uncertain or deceived. A standard response after two business days only makes matters worse. A quick, personalized response, on the other hand, can convince a hesitant customer that they’re in good hands with you.

Here's how to address those questions

What works isn’t a complicated system, but preparation and accessibility:

  • Have a set response ready. How will your customer recognize your real website, and what should they do if they’ve paid on a fake site? Agree on this before the rush begins.
  • Be available when things get tense. Fraud doesn’t stick to business hours. It’s precisely in the evenings and on weekends that customers have doubts when checking out.
  • Handle complaints seriously and quickly. Listen, ask follow-up questions, and let them know what the next step is—even if the mistake wasn’t your fault.
  • Pool information. If you suddenly start receiving a lot of questions about an unknown site, you’ll want to know about it. The sooner you spot it, the sooner you can report it.

At MisterChat, our ChatMasters are available 24/6 via phone, chat, email, and WhatsApp. They handle complaints in your tone of voice and keep you informed of what’s going on through regular reports: how many complaints there are, what issues they involve, and how quickly they’re resolved.

You can’t always prevent a fake online store. But you can prevent a customer from not getting a response from you.

Zo werkt klachtenafhandeling bij MisterChat

From outsourcing to strengthening—that’s MisterChat

At MisterChat, we don’t take over your customer interactions—we enhance them.
We ensure your business is always accessible, without you losing control.

  • Available from 6:00 a.m. to midnight
  • Multilingual customer service (NL, EN, ES, and more)
  • Real people, no bots
  • Seamless integration with your systems
  • Reports, dashboards, and insights into every conversation

Whether it’s customer service, lead follow-up, after-sales support, or chat support—MisterChat is your professional extension.
You stay in control; we ensure continuity, speed, and satisfied customers.

Ready to organize customer interactions more effectively?

Contact MisterChat and discover how we can help your business grow with service that remains human and results that are measurable.

MisterChat – Your brand. Your customer. Our service.

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