7 Tips to Protect Your Business from Brand Impersonation

It's Black Friday, and your customer triumphantly clicks "Confirm Order" after filling their cart with incredible deals from your online store. Limited items secured for a fraction of the usual price, they lean back with a satisfied sigh.

But a few days later, when the doorbell remains silent and their inbox lacks shipping updates, a sickening realization dawns. Turns out they never landed on your official website. Instead, they unwittingly handed over their hard-earned cash to a masterfully crafted imposter.

Brand impersonation is no joke and goes beyond just mimicking your logo and colors. The bad actors responsible can steal customer data, erode trust in your brand, and leave you reeling from financial losses. That said, implementing the right strategies will protect your customers, reputation, and bottom line. Let’s find out more.

What is brand impersonation?

Brand impersonation involves deliberately mimicking a well-established brand online to deceive customers. It's a type of cyber attack where the actors wear a brand's identity to trick unsuspecting users into believing they're legitimate.

Impersonators can go to great lengths to capture your customers, so don't think it stops at copying your profile. They can construct fake websites, social media accounts, or email, and even set up an automated SMS response system. Sometimes, the replicas are designed to be nearly indistinguishable from the real thing.

What's the goal? Here are some of the common objectives behind brand impersonation:

• Stealing sensitive information: Passwords, credit card details, login credentials — anything valuable they can use for financial gain.
• Data breaches: Capturing personal information like names, addresses, and emails, all of which they can sell on the dark web.
• Malware distribution: Tricking you into clicking malicious links that infect your devices with viruses or spyware.
• Customer diversion: Capturing some of your sales for themselves with fake stores and sometimes even bypassing screening processes to get into ad networks.
• Brand reputation damage: They can erode customer trust in your brand by associating it with a negative experience.
• Spreading misinformation: Impersonators can use fake accounts to spread false information about your brand or products.

What is the difference between impersonation and imitation?

Both terms are sometimes used interchangeably, but there's a significant difference between them.

Brand imitation involves taking inspiration from a well-established brand to create a new product or service. It's common practice, and some might even consider it flattery.

For instance, a start-up may copy some attributes from established apparel brands or enterprise ecommerce solutions, but it wouldn't try to deceive customers into thinking it's the original brand.

On the other hand, there are malicious motives behind brand impersonation, which usually involves fraudulent activity.

How to identify brand impersonation

Brand impersonation is usually subtle so that it can fool customers, your employees, and, well, even you.

On the other hand, impersonation attacks may be unrefined—but even that can work. For instance, following a sales call from a solar appointment setting, a target client may easily head to what they assume is your website just because it has panels and your logo displayed.

That said, knowing the signs can help every stakeholder detect and combat impersonation effectively.

These are some key indicators to watch out for:

• Slight changes in a domain name: Misspellings, extra (or fewer) letters, or different domain extensions.
• Poor quality branding: Low-res logos and images, color variations, poor website design, broken links, etc.
• Poor grammar and typographical errors: Typos, grammatical errors, or unprofessional language on a website, social media page, or email are red flags.
• Sense of urgency: Customers expect call-to-actions (CTAs) from businesses, but pressure from impersonators may stand out.
• Unrealistic offers: If it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is.
• Unsolicited communication: Authentic businesses don't send emails, messages, or calls requesting personal or financial information.
• Newly created social media profiles and low follower count.
• Aggressive messaging tactics.
• Fake mobile apps with poor reviews and low download counts.

How to protect your business from brand impersonation

Follow these essential tips to fight brand impersonation and shield your customers and business.

Own your online presence

So you have a nice shiny website and a few social media accounts that you update once in a while. Are those enough to establish your online presence and make impersonators hesitate? Short answer: no.

You want to create social media profiles for your brand on all major platforms—but just creating a page isn't enough if you want to look authentic. Posting regularly significantly reduces the chances of impostors creating accounts that seem legitimate.

On top of that, secure your domain assets so your customers don't mistakenly land on fake sites or can immediately recognize a replica. That means registering relevant domain names, including common misspellings, to prevent phishing attempts and domain squatting. 

Choosing the right e-commerce platform is crucial as it forms the backbone of your online sales operations, ensuring secure transactions and protecting against cyber threats. No, it's not going overboard.

Implementing DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance) for email authentication will add another layer of protection against email and domain spoofing.

Monitor that online presence closely

Brand impersonation can easily go under the radar, with you busy with other aspects of running your business and keeping customers happy. However, keeping an eye on your websites, social media pages, and customers will help you spot suspicious activity before it does much damage.

Tools like Google Alerts forward real-time notifications whenever your brand name or variations are mentioned across the web. That way, you can catch potential impersonation attempts early on.

You could go a step further with social listening tools. They analyze the sentiment behind those mentions so you can identify impersonation attempts and negative brand sentiment that follows them.

But don't just rely solely on alerts. Conduct regular "brand sweeps" by manually searching for your brand name and variations across different platforms. Search mobile app stores, too.

Additionally, consider localization of your monitoring efforts to cover not only mainstream platforms but also regional or niche websites and social media channels where impersonators might target specific demographics or languages.

Educate your customers (and employees)

Brand impersonation exploits unawareness. A robust relationship with your audience drastically reduces the chances of scammers impersonating your brand and getting away with it.

But more than that, you want to actively educate them on impersonation tactics so they stay aware. So, your website should have a list of all your active social social accounts and vice versa.

Generously showcase various aspects of your brand so they're less likely to fall for fakes. For instance, if your logo and brand colors are prominent, they'll think twice before downloading fake mobile applications impersonating yours.

As for your employees, they're susceptible to human error, and that's the biggest cyber vulnerability risk for brands. Hold training programs and seminars to keep them aware of social engineering tactics and potential threats. Plus, they must learn the right evasive techniques and response approaches.

Register trademarks and copyrights

A trademark gives you legal ownership of your intellectual property—your products, services, and specific aspects of your brand identity.

With that in your arsenal, you can legally take action against impersonators looking to mislead your customers and infringe.

Add layers of security

Imagine you've worked out the insurance appointment setting for an exciting prospect, only for them to be redirected to an impersonator by an employee with unauthorized access. Leaving the door open for internal and external threats is never a good idea.

Here are some key security strategies to implement:

• Enforce Two-Factor Authentication (2FA)
• Streamline access controls and role-based permissions
• Fortify your website's security with HTTPS encryption powered by SSL certificates
• Implement email authentication protocols like DMARC, SPF, and DKIM

Respond quickly and decisively

Brand impersonation can be a fast-moving threat. Snooze and you may be facing an uphill battle to repair the reputational damage and financial damage it leaves in its wake.

Swinging into action against impersonators and malicious content will limit exposure, reassure and protect your customers, maintain or rebuild brand trust, and deter future attacks.

What to do? Here are some steps to take:

• Report impersonation and phishing attempts
• Contact hosting providers and social media platforms to take down fraudulent sites and accounts.
• Proactively (and transparently) reach out to your customers.
• Talk to your lawyer or legal team.

It's probably best to have a response strategy with predefined actions — and a team if your business is big enough.

Use specialized help

Implementing the tips above will help shield your business from impersonation, but it's a pretty complex and ever-evolving challenge. If your brand faces a high risk of impersonation, you should consider seeking expert help.

For instance, threat researchers can help you mitigate those risks. Automated tools can monitor your online presence across various online and social media channels and provide real-time insights into the activities of threat actors. Forensic analysts can gather evidence that could come in handy if you're heading to court.

And if an incident has already affected your brand and eroded customer trust, reputation management specialists can step in to repair the damage. 

Shielding your business from brand impersonation: Key takeaways

Malicious actors are always out for sensitive information and other nefarious purposes. A common tactic involves disguising as legitimate businesses to trick unsuspecting customers and prospects into providing personal details or passing the wrong message.

Brand impersonation can seriously damage your reputation and financial health, especially if it's left unchecked or you respond too slowly. However, if you take the proactive steps above, you can fortify your defense and distinguish your brand from fakes.

Remember, you could take all the right preventive measures and still fall victim to brand impersonators. When this happens, you must act swiftly to nip it in the bud and minimize any damage.