Scammers are flooding the market with fake Tasmania Devils merchandise, including hats, t-shirts, hoodies, sneakers and even blanket hoodies, all emblazoned with the team’s new logo.
The unofficial stores selling the knock-off products emerged soon after the team’s official launch last month.
The Tasmania Football Club has likened this surge of unauthentic merchandise to an “introduced pest”, saying it has “no place on this planet, let alone our island”.
“The companies illegally producing and releasing this pest are using Facebook’s technology to send their ads to anyone who follows [our] page,” they said.
“This means they are deliberately exploiting your enthusiasm and support for Tassie’s first AFL team … They don’t care what happens to us. They don’t care if they produce junk.”
Currently, the only official merchandise available is the Tasmania Devils foundation jumper, but the club is promising to release more items by the end of the year.
“Moving forward, our mission is to respect and protect over 185,000 proud founding members with native, non-invasive merch of quality,” the team said.
The exact number of AFL fans who have unknowingly purchased counterfeit merchandise remains unknown.
