The regulator confirmed on 4 August that fraudsters had been using the website go-shorty.co. A spokesperson for GoShorty told Insurance Age: “We use technology that continuously scans the internet for any unauthorised use of our brand assets, content lifted from our website, or domain names similar to ours. The domain go-shorty.co was resultantly flagged by this system.”
As soon as the site was identified the firm activated its “internal response protocol”. GoShorty reported the site to the FCA and Insurance Fraud Bureau, alerted the relevant web hosting company and issued a DCMA takedown notice. GoShorty then briefed its customer service team to be vigilant in the event of receiving any call or emails from customers relating to the website.
Website The temporary car insurance firm is “actively pursuing all appropriate avenues to have the cloned site taken down, though this can be a frustratingly slow process due to the lack of centralised takedown systems”. GoShorty noted that it is not aware of any impact on its customers due to the clone. The spokesperson added: “We are continuing to work with the website’s hosting company to have the site removed, and urge any GoShorty customers who believe that they may have used the cloned site to get in touch with us.”
In the last quarter of 2024, the FCA issued 584 alerts about unauthorised firms and individuals, of which 11% involved clone scams. In June 2025, the regulator warned of a clone claiming to be Brighton-based Premium Wise Insurance Brokers. Last year it alerted that scammers had created a clone of Admiral Insurance. Later that year, the regulator issued a notice of fraudsters trying to scam people by pretending to be Tempcover, including on TikTok.
