It all started with a simple, everyday problem that almost every developer faces. As a solo developer, I constantly work with a whole suite of tools—Xcode, Android Studio, Docker, Node.js, and many others. But each of these IDEs and environments seems to live a life of its own, leaving behind gigabytes of hidden junk, build caches, and leftover artifacts that slowly clog up your drive.
After getting tired of manually hunting down and clearing out build folders, I decided to build a proper solution. That’s how DevCleaner was born—a lightweight, fast utility designed to keep developer machines clean and clutter-free. After months of refining it, I launched it on Product Hunt, where it received amazing feedback from the community.
Until today.
This morning, I received a message from an exceptionally sharp user who noticed something off. They pointed me to a website that looked like an absolute carbon copy of mine. When I opened the link, I was completely shocked.
Someone had 1:1 cloned the entire DevCleaner.app website—from the HTML structure and visual design down to the exact copy. But instead of delivering my legitimate app, the fake site's download button served a modified file packed with malware, exploiting my brand and name to trick developers looking for a useful tool.
Within hours, my normal coding day turned into a full-scale response effort:
Documented all screenshots, WHOIS records, and technical evidence.
Submitted emergency reports to Google Safe Browsing and Microsoft Defender to get browsers to flag and block the fake URL.
Filed formal Abuse and DMCA takedown requests with the domain registrar and hosting provider.
Alerted the community to ensure no one accidentally downloaded the malicious payload.
Having your work hijacked like this is a frustrating experience, but it’s also a powerful reminder of how important a vigilant community is. Thanks to one attentive user, I was able to act fast before more damage was done.
If you use or plan to try DevCleaner, please remember: the only official and safe domain is https://devcleaner.app.
A huge thank you to everyone in the dev community helping report these clones and keeping our tools safe!