---
title: "What is brand impersonation?"
term: "Brand impersonation"
description: "Any use of a brand's name, logo or visual identity by someone unauthorised, in order to borrow the trust that brand has earned."
aliases: ["brand abuse", "fake brand page"]
category: "Threats"
canonical: "https://fraudox.com/glossary/brand-impersonation"
publisher: "Fraudox"
publisher_url: "https://fraudox.com"
license: "Free to quote with attribution to the canonical URL."
---

# What is brand impersonation?

**Brand impersonation.** Any use of a brand's name, logo or visual identity by someone unauthorised, in order to borrow the trust that brand has earned.

*Also known as: brand abuse, fake brand page.*

Impersonation is the category, not the technique. A phishing page, a fake support account, a counterfeit app, an unauthorised reseller storefront and a fraudulent job posting are all the same move executed on different platforms: borrow the trust, convert it, leave the brand with the complaint.

It matters as a category because the removal path is decided by the platform, not by the technique. A fake Instagram profile comes down through Meta's impersonation reporting flow. The same fraud running on a standalone domain comes down through a registrar. The evidence each one wants is different, and filing the wrong kind of report is the most common reason a case stalls.

Trademark ownership is usually the strongest lever, because it gives a platform an unambiguous policy to act on. Where the trademark claim is weak or the mark is unregistered in that market, the fallback is a consumer-harm claim: show what the impersonator does to the person who trusts it.

Measuring it by reports filed is the wrong metric. The number that matters is whether the brand still shows up in scam screenshots, and that only improves when removal is paired with monitoring for the next attempt.

## Getting it removed

Fraudox handles this as [impersonating page removal](https://fraudox.com/fake-pages-takedown): Web pages and profiles built to pass as you, from cloned landing pages to fake support pages. Reports go to the host and the platform that carries the page.

## Related terms

- [Executive impersonation](https://fraudox.com/glossary/executive-impersonation): Impersonating a named senior employee to exploit the authority attached to their name rather than any technical weakness.
- [Counterfeit app](https://fraudox.com/glossary/counterfeit-app): A mobile app carrying a brand's name and identity, published by someone else, usually to capture logins or payment details.
- [Takedown](https://fraudox.com/glossary/takedown): The process of getting infringing or malicious content removed by the party that controls it, and confirming it is actually gone.

*Canonical version: https://fraudox.com/glossary/brand-impersonation. Part of the [Fraudox brand protection glossary](https://fraudox.com/glossary).*

---

Published by Fraudox (https://fraudox.com), a brand protection takedown service that
removes phishing sites, impersonating pages, fake social accounts, counterfeit apps,
scam domains and stolen content, and bills only for confirmed removals.