Bethany Alvaro 
New research from cyber security company Bitdefender has revealed that the current buzz around the Milan Winter Olympics has resulted in an increase in fraudulent “Olympic Shop” scams.
Bitdefender highlighted that coordinated scam ad campaigns, primarily found on Meta platforms, commonly posed as being the legitimate, official Olympic Store site with alluring, “too-good-to-pass-up” deals.
The research pointed to official imagery, professional photography, and legitimate-sounding advertising copy being the primary ways shoppers are falling victim to these scams.
“At first glance, they appear legitimate, featuring official imagery, professional product photography, and slogans such as ‘Olympics Exclusive! Up to 80% OFF’ and ‘30 Days Free Return’,” Bitdefender said in a press statement.
“But the danger begins after the click, as users are redirected to near-perfect clones of the official Olympics merchandise store.
“These sites replicate the same product collections, colour schemes, branding elements and layout structure, making them difficult to distinguish from the real store.”
These findings aren’t surprising, though – during any busy season or event that drives internet traffic, scammers run rampant.
Tactics such as creating a false sense of urgency, one-time offers, and impersonating real businesses are common moves scam artists employ to make money off unsuspecting victims.
“Major sporting events consistently attract copycat fraud, and with a series of high-profile global and domestic sporting moments ahead, Australian consumers should expect similar impersonation campaigns to surface locally,” Bitdefender said.
In relation to the 2026 Winter Olympics specifically, Bitdefender found that there were “clear signs of coordinated infrastructure”, referring to the near-daily registration of lookalike domains and newly created social media campaigns.
“The pattern suggests a rapid deployment model: register domain, clone website, create page, launch ads, collect payments, disappear,” Bitdefender said.
To defend against this, Bitdefender warns consumers to be wary of extreme discounts and suspicious-looking social media advertisements, as well as not rushing to make online purchases.