When it comes to counterfeiters, I try to be the leach that
sucks their blood dry. Cease-and-desist letters are fine, DMCA
takedown letters are helpful, but if you really want to cause them
pain and stop them from infringing, you need to cut off their
lifeline: cash flow.
Most counterfeiters operate online and hide their identities
through a variety of privacy services, anonymous sites, false
information in WHOIS, changed locations, and different aliases. But
what they cannot do is provide false or out-of-date information to
their banks, credit card companies, or PayPal. Failure to provide
up-to-date and accurate bank and contact information to the payment
providers will prevent them from getting paid and curtail their
customers' use of credit cards and PayPal on their websites,
thereby cutting off their income stream. In short, if they want to
be paid, they have to be honest with their payment provider
companies.
