WROCŁAW, Poland, Oct. 14, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Crypto Marketing Agency ICODA, has announced the launch of its brand protection service to combat against fake websites across the web3 and crypto space.
For every crypto exchange, DeFi platform, or Web3 project that spends months building branded search presence, a clone site can begin harvesting those exact clicks within days. Players searching "[brand name] login" or "[brand name] bonus" land on whichever result ranks first — and if a typosquat or cloned domain is holding that position, every dollar spent on acquisition converts directly into someone else's funnel.
ICODA, a crypto marketing agency with 17+ years in marketing and 650+ clients across crypto and Web3, has formalized its brand protection services as a dedicated, daily-operation offering. The service locates impersonation assets across Google and Bing, assembles evidence packages, and files removal requests — reporting a 98% removal rate on filed complaints, with the full detection-to-filing cycle completed within 24 hours.
Why Clone Sites Have Become the Fastest-Growing Threat to Crypto Brands
Clone sites now represent the single fastest-growing fraud category in crypto, stealing traffic, deposits, and trust from legitimate brands simultaneously.
Impersonation scams have become the dominant attack vector in crypto, growing at a pace no other fraud category matches. AI tooling now lets bad actors clone a brand's full interface, site logic, bonus structure, and marketing copy in hours — then purchase traffic in the same geographies the legitimate brand targets, at a fraction of what the original spent to build that audience.
For crypto projects, the threat is asymmetric. A clone doesn't need to build trust from scratch; it borrows yours. And when clones stop paying players — as they typically do — the resulting complaint content floods search threads, Trustpilot, and Quora under a name nearly identical to yours. Without active brand protection services in place, those complaints become the first thing a prospective depositor reads.
What Does a Brand Protection Agency Actually Do?
A brand protection agency finds every asset exploiting your brand name in search, proves the traffic diversion, and removes it — without waiting months for legal proceedings.
The distinction matters operationally. A legal takedown through a domain registrar or courts can run for months. A removal request filed with Google and Bing, backed by the right evidence pack, closes a page in days. ICODA's brand protection agency model is built on that speed differential: move in search first, bring lawyers in alongside.
The four-stage daily process ICODA runs on every client:
- Capture — daily crawls of brand name, common misspellings, and transactional modifiers ("login," "bonus," "app," "apk," "withdraw") across 100 positions deep in every target country, on both desktop and mobile.
- Click — a browser operating from a local IP opens the flagged page, activates the CTA, and follows every redirect chain to the final destination domain, recording the full path.
- Verify — repeat passes comparing Googlebot behavior versus live-browser rendering, cross-referenced against WHOIS, DNS, and TLS certificate data. Insufficient evidence returns a verdict of "unverified," never an accusation.
- File — removal request to Google and Bing with the full evidence pack attached. Legal notices are logged publicly in the Lumen Database for an auditable record.
What Types of Impersonation Assets Does Clone Website Removal Cover?
The scope of clone website removal is broader than most brands expect. Impersonation doesn't only happen at the domain level.
| Threat Type | How It Diverts Your Traffic | How ICODA Removes It |
| Typosquat domains | Near-identical domains intercept mistyped branded queries | Google/Bing removal with UI comparison and screenshot evidence |
| Login page clones | Full interface copy with credential harvesting or rival redirect | Filed as phishing with complete redirect chain documentation |
| Rogue affiliate links | Affiliate tags quietly routing deposits to a competitor | Tag traced, redirect path documented, filed with the platform |
| Review site button swaps | Aggregators swap "visit" buttons to a rival after indexing | Click-path proved and filed under misleading content policies |
| Parasite SEO pages | Third-party pages ranking for your branded queries | Filed under trademark and impersonation rules |
| App store clones | Fake apps using brand name and near-identical icon | Filed directly under Google Play and App Store content policies |
Case Study: A Crypto Platform Clone Removed From Google in 32 Days
ICODA removed a crypto platform copycat from Google's SERP in 32 days — and results held for 12 months at zero additional spend.
A licensed crypto platform operating in Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh found a copycat platform that had cloned its full interface, bonus logic, and marketing copy — then purchased traffic in the same three geographies. In Pakistan alone the clone attracted approximately 160,000 monthly searches, with part of that volume landing on the fake site instead of the original. When the clone stopped processing user withdrawals, complaints began ranking in search under a name nearly identical to the legitimate brand’s.
Results after 32 days:
- 530 removal requests and assets filed across Google, Bing, and platform channels
- 97 guest posts on DR 30+ sites with branded anchor backlinks
- 10 PR publications in indexable media, first piece live within 48 hours of briefing
- 6 YouTube videos targeting South Asian audiences searching the clone's name
- 393 UGC placements on Quora, Reddit, YouTube, and niche forums
- 5,645 branded clicks intercepted via Google Ads at $0.37 CPC, $2,062 total spend
- Clone pushed out of the SERP; results holding 12 months later with no additional spend
How Is This Different From Standard Crypto Agency Brand Work?
ICODA runs brand monitoring as a daily automated detection loop with same-day filing — because a clone that appears on Monday and converts for two weeks won't wait for a monthly report.
As a full-service crypto marketing agency with active operations in SEO, PR, SERM, and paid media, ICODA runs the counter-SERP strategy in parallel: while the clone is being removed, legitimate brand assets are pushed back to position one. The brand doesn't lose its visibility window during the takedown. Clients include BingX, Filecoin, and Tangem.
How to Check If a Clone Is Already Ranking on Your Brand
Run your own brand name right now — in incognito, in the countries where you buy traffic — and check what's sitting above or beside you.
Look for these signals:
- A domain you don't own ranking in the top 5 for "[your brand] login" or "[your brand] bonus"
- Autocomplete suggestions like "[your brand] scam" or "[your brand] not paying" appearing in Google
- App store results showing a near-identical name or icon you didn't publish
- Review aggregators with a "visit" button that doesn't point to your domain
Any one of these means branded traffic is leaking. ICODA's free brand audit covers all four: one brand name, one or more countries, and you get every site ranking on your name — where each sends the user, and the evidence needed to remove it.
→ Find out if clones are stealing your traffic. Request a free brand protection check at icoda.io
MEDIA CONTACT INFORMATION Artem Voinov, CBDO at ICODA av@icoda.io
