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Fake Website Credit Card Scams Threaten Ski Clothing Customers

Originally posted on Powder | By Ian Greenwood | Last updated Jan 7, 2025 3:28 PM ET

Norrøna, a Norwegian ski outerwear company, may be suffering from a bit too much popularity—online scammers, as they often do, have taken notice.

In a social media post, the brand warned that fake advertising and websites have appeared online, offering deeply discounted prices on Norrøna products.

These websites, Norrøna clarified, are scams.

“Norrona.com is our only official website,” the company’s Instagram statement reads. “If you want to safely purchase authentic Norrøna products, you find our products on norrona.com, in physical Norrøna stores and with our trusted partners.”

Scams often seem like something other, less aware people—or aging grandparents—fall for. But one website using Norrøna’s name is surprisingly convincing. We’ll spare you from the risky click—this is a side-by-side comparison of the scam website and Norrøna’s actual homepage. See below.

Photo: Norrøna's official website (left) alongside a fake website.

The scam site apes Norrøna’s look, “borrowing” an image from the outerwear company’s website. The fake prices it offers on gear are absurdly cheap. The Lofoten Gore-Tex Pro Jacket—which actually costs $799—is “available” for $82.85. Another similar site—www.norronaoutdoor.com—immediately prompts a “deceptive website warning” if you try to follow its URL (don’t go to the website, obviously).

“This website may try to trick you into doing something dangerous like installing software or disclosing personal or financial information, like passwords, phone numbers, or credit cards,” the warning reads.

This isn’t the first time Norrøna has dealt with online scams.

In December of 2023, the brand wrote on social media, “We’ve been noticing an increased number of scam advertisements/websites using actual photos of Norrøna stores with false promises and fake prices.”

One year earlier, in 2022, Norrøna issued a similar message.

More outdoor brands than just Norrøna face online scams that try to dupe gearheads into giving up their sensitive personal information. Another titan in the gear space, Patagonia, on the help center portion of its website, warns that “There are fraudulent ads on Facebook and Instagram offering fake discounts on Patagonia products.”

“It’s a credit card scam,” the warning continues.

These sites operate similarly to the Norrøna scam, scraping information, products, and images from Patagonia’s official webstore. If you purchase something on these fraudulent websites, you’ll be sent nothing, a counterfeit item, or a cheap unrelated item, according to Patagonia.

Like Norrøna, Patagonia directed prospective buyers to its actual website: www.patagonia.com. The brand also asked those who encounter fake Patagonia websites to gather information and send it to takedown@patagonia.com.

In short, the internet isn’t all that different from the wild west. Scammers are gonna scam—the best thing you can do is think before you click and punch in your credit card information. That unbelievably cheap Gore-Tex coat you found on a website with a weird URL? Odds are good it’s just a digital mirage.