The 2020 Olympics Might Have Been Postponed, but Olympics Scams Have Not

You might have heard already that the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games have been postponed. This is the first time in the history of the Olympiad that the event has been postponed, but the ongoing fight with the COVID-19 pandemic that paralyzed the entire planet starting January left the organizers with no other option. Originally to be held between July 24 and August 9, the event was postponed until July 23, 2021. The Paralympic Games were postponed until August 24, 2021. The tickets to the Olympics had already been sold out prior to the postponement, and that means that the holders of 7.8 million tickets were left wondering what to make out of it all. According to the official statement by the organizers, all ticket holders can either use the same tickets in 2021 or have the full price for them refunded. Of course, only tickets are up for a refund, and refunds for flights and hotels are subject to different policies.

What are Olympics scams?

Even though the 2020 Summer Olympics have been postponed, cybersecurity experts are warning that the number of Olympics scams could increase significantly now that ticket holders might be trying to resell tickets, get refunds, cancel flights, rebook hotels, and find good deals for it all. These Olympics scams could be linked directly to the games or they could exploit third-party services. In either case, people need to be extremely cautious.

The refund scam: If you know for a fact that you will not be able to attend the Tokyo Summer Games in 2021, perhaps you are now trying to get a refund for your tickets. If that is the case, you must only trust the vendor of the ticket. At the moment, the organizers are yet to give details on how people will get refunds for the tickets sold on the official Tokyo 2020 Ticket Website. If you have bought tickets using authorized resellers (Paralympic Games’ authorized resellers), you have to wait for further information also because the organizers of the Games are managing this as well. Therefore, if you receive emails that claim to provide you with refund details, you need to be cautious. This is one of the Olympics scams that ticket holders need to be most cautious about.

If you receive an email or a call from someone who claims to offer a refund, you have to confirm that the message/call is legitimate before disclosing any personal information, revealing credit card information, providing ticket numbers, etc. The only thing you should do in such a situation is contact the seller or the authorized reseller directly. They will provide you with all necessary information. If you fall for this Olympics scam, schemers could steal your identity to get the refund on your behalf. They also could use the collected information to involve you in other scams.

The resell scam: If you missed your chance to get tickets for the events in your bucket-list or any events at all, the postponement of the Olympic Games might seem like a gift. You might think that you have a second chance to buy tickets, and perhaps buy them at better prices as well. Since official refunds have not started yet, some people might start reselling their tickets on their own. There are websites that can make the exchange a little more secure and transparent, but for the most part, ticket reselling is very risky. Someone might take your money and promise to send you tickets via email or actual post, but then you would never receive them. And what can you do then? If the schemer manages to conceal themselves properly, and if you do not ask for any guarantees or security deposits, they might escape you like sand through fingers.

You also could receive emails or find advertisements online for the Tokyo 2020 Games tickets. These are most likely to be fictitious, and if you do not want to waste your money and expose yourself to schemers, you should not believe anyone trying to resell tickets, even if the prices are hard to resist. Here are a few important tips to consider using if you do not want to become a victim of this Olympics scam.

The flight/hotel/related events refund scam: Whether you live in Japan or across the world in Brazil, if you were planning to attend the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, you must have had plans on how to get there, where to stay, and what to do. The Olympic Games is a major event, and hotels get booked up really fast. This is why the attendees need to plan ahead. If you already had your flights and hotels booked, you now have to figure out how to change booking dates or how to get refunds for them. Depending on the policies of the bookings you made, you might not be eligible for a full refund. Nonetheless, schemers might use this opportunity to go fishing. For example, a completely bogus email message could be created, and it could be sent to anyone whose email address can be obtained. For the most part, the schemers are likely to hit a wall by sending an email to someone who has nothing to do with the Olympics. However, this Olympics scam can be successful.

Tell-tale signs of phishing scams and Olympics scams

There are tell-tale signs of phishing scams that you should watch out for. First of all, if you are approached with a phishing email, the message might not make sense, and that is something you should not ignore. Second, you need to check the email address of the sender. For example, tokyo2020refunds@gmail.com is clearly an email address that would belong to schemers. Without a doubt, one of biggest tell-tale signs of phishing scams are unfounded request for personal information. Whether someone is trying to scam you via email or phone, if they are asking to reveal your full name, contact details, credit card information, date of birth, social security number, and other sensitive data, you need to keep your lips sealed, so to speak. Above all, you need to remain cautious in all situations. If you have even the slightest suspicion that something’s not right, find the official contact information for the ticket seller/reseller, event organizer, airline company, or hotel. If you contact them directly, hopefully, you can dodge all Olympics scams.

N.B. If you have been tricked by Olympics scams, and now schemers have your identifying information, you need to take certain security actions. First of all, change passwords to all sensitive accounts, especially if these passwords are weak and contain the data that you might have been tricked into disclosing (e.g., date of birth). We recommend employing the Cyclonis Password Manager for all password-related management issues. Second, watch out for scam emails or phone calls that could use the retrieved data in new ways. If you have disclosed baking-related data, call your bank to receive assistance immediately.