Cloudflare Tunnel — every Cloudflare user knows it. On Linux the binary is called cloudflared, and the open source repo lives at https://github.com/cloudflare/cloudflared. So, with nothing better to do, I registered cloudflared.cn, hooked it up to Cloudflare’s services, and then — my account was gone.
First, some context: I’m a loyal Cloudflare user and genuinely grateful for their free services. Cloudflare Tunnel is one of the products I use; the docs are at https://developers.cloudflare.com/cloudflare-one/networks/connectors/cloudflare-tunnel/ — all in English, though. As a Chinese user, I had a whimsical idea: why not translate the documentation into Chinese myself, and build it with the cloudflared.cn domain, a GitHub repo, and Cloudflare Pages.
That’s where the trouble started. The documentation contains the Cloudflare name and Cloudflare trademarks. In fact, when I registered the domain, I emailed press@cloudflare.com on December 22, 2023, told them I wanted to create a Chinese version of the docs, and asked whether using their logo would be allowed. I never got a reply. Here’s the original email:
I’m translating a portion of cloudflare’s documentation into Chinese, and I’d like to use the cloudflare logo on the documentation site. I have not imitate Cloudflare, but I hope to keep it as consistent as possible with the style of Cloudflare’s official website. I would like to ask if this is allowed? Will it infringe cloudflare’s rights? The domain name will also be similar: (cloudflared.cn), I am translating the documentation about Cloudflare Tunnel, is this allowed?
From December 22, 2023 until the incident, nothing happened.
On November 12, 2025, I received a system notification from Cloudflare telling me my account was gone — I had violated the terms of service. The original notice:
Hello,
The Cloudflare account associated with the email address i@renfei.net has been suspended for a potential violation of Cloudflare’s Terms of Service, located at https://www.cloudflare.com/terms/.
Suspending this account will not affect, disable, or delete your current services. However, while this incident is being reviewed, you will be blocked from adding new domains to your Cloudflare account.
If you have any questions regarding this suspension, please contact Cloudflare’s Trust & Safety team at abusereply@cloudflare.com to discuss the matter.
Thanks, Cloudflare team
I emailed abusereply@cloudflare.com to ask what was going on. No reply — just automated bot responses.
Then I noticed an abuse report had been activated against me, with the action being a phishing interstitial page. Entity name or ID: .cloudflared-cn.pages.dev/ — which corresponds to the Pages service behind cloudflared.cn.
On November 13, 2025, I received an email from Alibaba Cloud: [Alibaba Cloud infringement complaint notice: cloudflared.cn]. The gist:
Rights holder: Cloudflare. Complaint: We have received a complaint from Ezellars, alleging that the website has infringed upon the trademark rights of Cloudflare. Specific complaint link: cloudflared.cn. Contact email: esellars@cloudflare.com
At that point I pretty much understood: cloudflared.cn was why my account was gone.
Getting in touch
Today, December 3, 2025, I finally got a reply. Eric (esellars@cloudflare.com) accepted my explanation — I hadn’t intended to impersonate or damage the Cloudflare brand. His email:
Thanks for getting back to me and clarifying your intentions with the cloudflared.cn domain registration. It’s helpful to know that you didn’t intend to mimic our trademark or cause any harm.
However, even with good intentions, using the Cloudflare name or the “cloudflared” mark for your domain can confuse users into thinking there is an official connection to us. We also noticed your GitHub repository at https://github.com/renfei/cloudflare, which presents similar concerns. We want to avoid any situation where a user might mistakenly believe a site or code repository is provided, maintained, or secured by our team. Because of that risk, we do need to ensure these names are changed.
We’d certainly appreciate your interest in Cloudflare and prefer to resolve this amicably. Please let me know if you would be willing to transfer the domains to us and rename your GitHub repository to something that doesn’t use our trademark. I’m happy to work with you on the logistics to make these processes as smooth as possible.
I was never trying to impersonate Cloudflare, so I agreed to transfer cloudflared.cn to them, and I deleted the GitHub repo.
Don’t put your domains on Cloudflare
Because cloudflared.cn was connected through my account, my account got suspended — and then every domain under my account became unmanageable and untransferable. Every domain-related operation returns the same error: 403 Registrar access forbidden.
If they had locked only the domain in question, I’d understand. But my entire account is suspended and I can’t manage or transfer out any of my domains, which I find hard to accept.
So no, I don’t recommend keeping your domains on Cloudflare. Once your account gets banned, every domain you own goes down with it.
As of this writing, my Cloudflare account is still suspended, and I’m already considering registering a fresh one.