Scammers are exploiting the buzz around the 2024 Paris Olympics to lure victims into investing in initial coin offerings (ICOs). These scams tend to promise big returns on "Olympic" tokens. The campaigns manufacture hype around such offerings through the use of use fake websites, AI-generated images, and social media campaigns to entice investors.

 Olympics Initial Coin Offerings (ICO) Fraud

Researchers from Trend Micro uncovered a recent scheme that claimed to offer an official "Olympics Games Token" for sale. The Olympic Games Token ICO website, theolympictoken[.]com, was registered on March 30, 2024, and its website went live a day later.  The website also links to a legitimate Olympics 2024 logo and a countdown to the event, making it seem like a legitimate project. [caption id="attachment_79264" align="alignnone" width="395"] Source: trendmicro.com[/caption] It linked to a "whitepaper" – a document explaining the project's tech and goals. But that link led nowhere useful. Instead of details, it dumped visitors on the official Olympics website. Red flag number one. A Twitter account and Telegram channel pushed followers to buy tokens ASAP. When the original site got shut down, a near-identical one (olympictokensolana[.]com) popped up under a new name. The researchers spotted at least ten other websites using 2024 Olympics-associated branding to lure victims into ICO scams; some of them were shut down shortly after their discovery.

Use of AI-Generated Images Olympics in ICO Scams

[caption id="attachment_79257" align="alignnone" width="1263"] Source: trendmicro.com[/caption] The researchers remarked that AI-generated images are becoming increasingly common in such ICO scams, as they offer a cost-effective and time-efficient way to create convincing lures. Cybercriminals can use AI to generate text, correct spelling and grammatical errors, and even create sentences in languages they do not speak. [caption id="attachment_79256" align="alignnone" width="384"] Source: trendmicro.com[/caption] The researchers spotted at least three other ICO Olympics scam websites employing the usage of AI-generated imagery for promotion.

Spotting Fake ICO Campaigns

ICOs have gained significant attention as cryptocurrency continues to be adopted in various industries. While most new tokens lack utility and are simply memecoins, it does not always mean they are scams. Investors should be vigilant and look out for potential scams and rug-pulls. A legitimate ICO should have a proper website and social media presence, a transparent team, an active community, a comprehensive whitepaper, legitimacy of claims, token distribution, smart contract audit, and liquidity management. The researchers have shared the following guidelines to help identify such scams:

• Proper website and social media presence: The researchers stated that scam sites are often poorly designed or lack active presence on social media.
• Transparent team: Cross-check the identities and credentials of the teams behind the offering. Anonymity is a red flag.
• Active community: Genuine projects have engaged followers on platforms like Discord, Twitter or Telegram, which suggests genuine interest and support.
• Comprehensive whitepaper: A whitepaper that outlines the project's goals, utility, and technical aspects, which demonstrates a thorough understanding of the project's concept and planning.
• Legitimacy of claims: Claims backed by verifiable evidence, such as partnerships, use cases, and endorsements.
• Token distribution: Avoid projects with highly concentrated token ownership which might increase the chances of exit scams.
• Smart contract audit: Audit by reputable third-parties, which identify vulnerabilities.
• Liquidity management: Liquidity is locked to prevent premature withdrawals and is decentralized among the community, which secures investors' funds.

In the case of the Olympic Games Token, the website raised several red flags such as a very low number of token holders and an invalid whitepaper link. Investors and those interested in cryptocurrency should follow adequate precautions to avoid falling victim to such scams. Experts have been monitoring Olympics-related search engine results and social media activity to counter fraudulent ticketing scams and coordinated disinformation campaigns.

As anticipation builds for the upcoming Paris 2024 Summer Olympic Games, security researchers and officials have observed an uptick in scams abusing legitimate Olympics branding. French Gendarmerie officials discovered over 300 bogus ticketing sites aiming to steal money and personal information by deceiving individuals who are in a hurry to book tickets for the events. Recent research investigates a prominent example (paris24tickets[.]com) from these websites. The site appears among the top paid results in Google searches and promotes itself as a secondary marketplace for sports and live events tickets.

Website Incorporates Official Paris 2024 Summer Olympic Games Branding

The 'paris24tickets[.]com' website appeared professional and legitimate at first glance. The site advertised itself as a “secondary marketplace for sports and live events tickets,” and was displayed as the second result among sponsored Google search results for 'paris 2024 tickets.' It allowed visitors to navigate through upcoming Olympic events, select event specific tickets, and enter payment information. Its polished design resembled that of trusted ticketing platforms, along with the official Olympics ticket purchase site. Proofpoint researchers warned that the website was entirely fraudulent despite its authentic look and feel. The site was likely collecting users’ financial and personal information rather than actually processing ticket orders. The researchers acted swiftly to suspend the misleading domain upon its discovery. [caption id="attachment_77366" align="alignnone" width="2800"] Impersonating domain 'paris24tickets[.]com' (Source: archive.org)[/caption] [caption id="attachment_77365" align="alignnone" width="2800"] Official Olympics Ticketing Site (Source: https://tickets.paris2024.org)[/caption] The researchers noticed that in some cases, the scammers even sent emails promising "discounts" on coveted tickets to victims. This tactic was likely done to lure unsuspecting individuals, who may have been desperate to secure tickets at lower costs. Victims who have provided their personal or financial information on the fraudulent website risk having their identities and money stolen. The scammers behind these websites may also collect important personal data, such as names, contact information, and credit card details, for sale or further malicious campaigns.

French Gendarmerie Nationale Reported the Discovery of 338 Scam Sites

The 'paris24tickets[.]com' website represents just a tiny fraction of a much broader network of fraudulent Olympics domains. The French Gendarmerie Nationale had identified approximately 338 such websites since March 2023, and made subsequent efforts to shut them down; 51 of these sites were stated to have been closed while 140 of them were put on notice. The fraudsters behind these scams likely rely on sponsored search engine ads and targeted emails to drive traffic to impersonating websites. Offers of special deals and discounts are further lures to draw-in potential victims. [caption id="attachment_77367" align="alignnone" width="1000"] Source: Shutterstock[/caption] 200 French gendarmes had been mobilized as a distinct unit to monitor the internet and various different social networks for Olympics ticketing-related fraud and mass resales, under the direction of the Europol. These units work along with the DGCCRF (Directorate General for Consumer Affairs, Competition and Fraud Prevention) in France. Captain Etienne Lestrelin, director of operations at the unit, told France Info radio that social media such as Facebook, Leboncoin, Telegram and Instagram were often “the primary source of resale attempts.” He added, “This is an exchange from individual to individual. Except that the buyer does not know if the person really owns the tickets, since they are virtual tickets, not tickets paper. So people are selling you wind, we don't know what they're selling." Lestrelin advised that tickets sold at too low of a price can alert potential buyers: "You will never have a ticket below its original cost. The goal of people who were able to buy tickets in volume and with the intention of reselling them, it is to make a profit So it is an alert if you find a much cheaper ticket. The sentence to remember is that there is no. very good deals on the internet, it's not possible." He instructed that it was also not possible to own a ticket before the event begins and QR Codes are generated. Anyone who claims to be currently in possession of a ticket, or owns tickets that seem visually legitimate, is still a fraud. He warned buyers to be vigilant about buying such tickets outside of official sources because it can also be an offense. "You are associating yourself with the offense that the seller commits when he resells without going through the official website. This is a criminal offense," he stated. To validate purchases, buyers can cross-check provided references with the official Paris 2024 Summer Olympic Games application. Buyers who suspect that they may have been duped can report to a police station, a gendarmerie or the DGCCRF. Legitimate ticket purchases can be made through the official ticketing website or official sub-distributor network.