The power of branded merchandise in the wrong hands can be a dangerous thing.

The demand for official merch promoting the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics has been so high that people are jumping at targeted ads offering up the chance to grab hoodies, jackets, hats and other apparel. The only problem is that many of these ads are not in fact official in any capacity.

  • The cybersecurity firm Bitdefender has been tracking scam campaigns in the EU and U.S. of fake “Olympic Shop” advertisements offering Milano Cortina 2026 merch.
  • These scams are hyper realistic and looking to acquire data, credit card information, passwords and other personal details.


A screenshot of a scam website selling counterfeit Olympic merch, designed to look like the official website (provided by Bitdefender):

The above image is nearly identical aesthetically to the official website selling Olympics branded merchandise.

Who Is Being Targeted With These Scams?

The short answer is many people are being targeted. But more specifically, the scam campaigns seem to be run through Meta platforms such as Instagram and Facebook. Both social media platforms feature ads for the Olympic merch discounted for as much as 80% off.

  • A user on Facebook might see a newly created Facebook page on their feed promoting ads for this merch with all the trappings of an official offer.


How Does The Scam Work?

In some cases, users may pay for counterfeit merch, but it’s also possible that they do not receive anything at all despite providing a payment.

  • In some cases, even avoiding payment still leaves a user vulnerable to the scammer, who is simply trying to harvest any bit of data it can as soon as the site has been entered. That may include name, phone number, email accounts, passwords or any other personal information.
  • If it asks a user to create an account, it may take the username and password combination and test it at other otherwise secure logins.


Some of these websites, according to Bitdefender, will disappear from existence after they process a certain number of payments, leaving the scam just a frustrating memory.