10 Cybersecurity Tips For Staying Safe During The FIFA World Cup

The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) World Cup is one of the biggest sporting events on the planet. For fans, that means excitement, travel plans, ticket hunts, match-day rituals, group chats, streaming links, merch drops, and possibly a little bit of screaming at the referee from the sofa.

For cyber criminals, it means something else entirely. It means attention. And wherever attention goes, scams follow. Security researchers are already seeing this play out ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. 

Group-IB found more than 4,300 fraudulent domains impersonating FIFA’s official web presence, while Fortinet reported more than 13,000 newly registered FIFA World Cup 2026-themed domains between January and May 2026. Around 8.8 per cent of those were classified as malicious or suspicious.

That doesn’t mean every fan needs to become a cybersecurity expert before watching a match. The safest fans aren’t always the most technical. They’re the ones who know what scammers are looking for, recognise the warning signs, and pause before they click, buy or log in.

Why The FIFA World Cup Creates The Perfect Environment For Scammers

World Cup scams work because the event creates the exact emotional conditions cyber criminals love. 

Tickets are limited. Travel gets expensive. Accommodation fills up quickly. Fans want official merchandise. People search for live streams when they can’t watch through normal channels. Group chats start filling with links, deals and “someone I know has two spare tickets” messages. That pressure changes how people behave online.

A person who would normally check a website carefully might rush through payment because the tickets look like they’re about to sell out. Someone who’d usually ignore a suspicious email might click because it says their match-day tickets need urgent verification. A fan looking for a last-minute hotel room might pay a deposit before checking whether the listing is real.

That’s the real trick. Most World Cup cybersecurity risks aren’t built around genius-level hacking. They’re built around timing, excitement and urgency.

1. Only Buy Tickets Through Official Channels

Fake FIFA ticket websites are one of the biggest risks for fans because they target the thing people want most: entry to the match.

FIFA’s own guidance is clear. Fans are strongly encouraged to buy tickets only through FIFA.com/tickets, and tickets bought through unofficial channels may be invalid or cancelled without notice. FIFA also warns that tickets sold through unofficial resale websites, social media or third-party vendors may be fake, duplicated or already voided.

That matters because a fake ticket scam doesn’t always look messy. A fraudulent website can look polished. A seller can send screenshots. A confirmation email can look official. None of that proves the ticket exists or will get you through the gate.

The safest rule is simple: buy World Cup tickets only through official FIFA channels. If a seller is pushing you to pay quickly, avoid the official platform, use a strange payment method or trust a screenshot as proof, treat that as a warning sign.

A good deal isn’t a good deal if you end up standing outside the stadium with no ticket and a very expensive life lesson.

2. Check Website Addresses Carefully Before Clicking Or Paying

Lookalike domains are fake website addresses designed to look almost real.

This is called typo-squatting, which is when scammers register a web address that copies a trusted brand with tiny changes. That might mean an extra letter, a missing letter, a hyphen in the wrong place, or a strange ending after the dot.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) warned in May 2026 that cyber threat actors were creating deceptive versions of legitimate FIFA websites to collect personal information, sell fake World Cup tickets and hospitality products, and support other malicious activity.

The problem is that people don’t read web addresses closely when they’re in a hurry. They see “FIFA”, a logo, a countdown timer and a page that looks about right. Then they enter their card details.

Before you pay, slow down and check the address properly. Don’t trust a link just because it came through email, social media or a message from someone you know. Their account may have been compromised too.

When money, tickets or account details are involved, it’s safer to type the official address into your browser yourself.

3. Treat Unexpected Emails And Messages With Caution

Phishing is when scammers send fake emails or messages that try to trick you into sharing sensitive information.

For World Cup fans, these could look like fake ticket confirmations, account alerts, prize notifications, schedule updates, refund messages or warnings that your booking will be cancelled if you don’t act immediately.

The aim is usually credential theft. In plain English, that means stealing the username and password you use to log into an account. Once scammers have those details, they may try to access your ticketing account, email account, payment accounts or social media profiles.

Group-IB also found more than 2,500 FIFA account credential pairs circulating in dark web markets, which shows that stolen logins are already part of the broader World Cup fraud ecosystem.

A few warning signs are worth remembering:

• The message creates panic or urgency.
• The sender address looks slightly wrong.
• The link takes you to a login page you weren’t expecting.
• The message asks for payment details, passwords or identity documents.
• The offer feels unusually generous.

If something claims to be urgent, that’s when you need to move more slowly. Scammers want you acting on instinct, not judgement.

4. Be Sceptical Of Ticket Sales On Social Media

Social media is going to be a major part of the World Cup experience. It’s where fans react, argue, celebrate, mourn and post the kind of match-day opinions that probably should’ve stayed in the group chat.

It’s also where ticket scams spread quickly.

Meta has warned that bad actors may use its platforms to target fans with scams during the FIFA World Cup, including ticketing scams, fraudulent accommodation offers and impersonation. Fortinet also reported more than 1,700 FIFA-themed impersonation accounts and channels in its World Cup threat research.

The danger with social media ticket sales is that they feel personal. A seller may be in a fan group. They may have a normal-looking profile. They may post screenshots of tickets, messages from “happy buyers” or comments from people who appear to vouch for them.

Screenshots aren’t proof. Testimonials can be fake. Accounts can be stolen. Fan groups can be infiltrated.

Be especially careful if the seller asks you to pay by bank transfer, cryptocurrency, gift card, friends-and-family payment, or any method that gives you little or no protection if the sale turns out to be fraudulent.

5. Only Buy Merchandise From Trusted Retailers

Fake merchandise stores are another easy way for scammers to target fans who may not be looking for tickets at all.

These sites usually lean on emotion and discounts. They may advertise limited-edition shirts, cheap national team kits, signed items, scarves, flags or “official” products at prices that feel just believable enough.

Sometimes the product never arrives. Sometimes it arrives and looks nothing like the picture. In worse cases, the real goal is payment card theft.

Group-IB identified counterfeit merchandise stores as part of the wider World Cup fraud ecosystem, alongside fake ticketing, betting and streaming schemes.

Before buying World Cup merchandise, check who you’re buying from. Look for clear contact details, realistic pricing, secure checkout, independent reviews and a proper returns policy. Be careful with stores that only appeared recently, advertise heavily on social media, or use aggressive countdowns to push you into buying quickly.

A cheap shirt shouldn’t cost you a cancelled bank card and a weekend spent disputing transactions.

6. Don’t Trust Every Streaming Link You Find Online

Not every fan will be able to attend matches or watch through official broadcasters. That makes fake streaming platforms a useful trap for scammers.

These sites often promise free access to live matches. Then they ask you to create an account, enter card details for “verification”, download software, disable browser protections or click through endless pop-ups. That’s where the risk starts.

Fake streaming sites can be used to steal login details, collect payment information or push malware onto your device. Malware is malicious software that can damage your device, spy on what you’re doing or steal information without you realising.

Fortinet’s World Cup report also highlights fake streaming platforms and malware activity as part of the tournament’s cyber threat landscape.

The safest option is to use official broadcasters and legitimate streaming services in your region. If a site is full of pop-ups, asks you to download a “special player”, or wants payment details for a free stream, don’t talk yourself into trusting it because kick-off is five minutes away.

That’s exactly the moment scammers are counting on.

7. Verify Travel And Accommodation Bookings Carefully

Travelling fans have more to lose than a match ticket.

A fake accommodation listing can leave someone stranded in a host city with no room, no refund and no easy fix. Fraudulent travel websites can collect payment details, sell non-existent packages or impersonate legitimate hotels and agencies.

Meta has already warned that fans may be targeted with fraudulent accommodation offers around the World Cup, while Check Point has flagged travel and hospitality as one of the major areas where World Cup-related scams are expected to appear.

Before paying for travel or accommodation, check the listing across more than one source. Search for the property name separately. Confirm the address exists. Be cautious if the host pushes you to pay outside the platform. Avoid listings with only perfect reviews, vague descriptions or unusually low prices during high-demand match periods.

If you’re booking through a travel agent, check that the business is legitimate before sending money. A logo and a nice-looking website aren’t enough.

8. Stay Away From Unofficial Betting And Crypto Schemes

Major sporting events create a rush of betting activity. Scammers know this.

Fake betting platforms may offer unrealistic odds, “guaranteed” wins or exclusive World Cup promotions. Some may let you deposit money but make withdrawals impossible. Others may simply steal your personal and payment details.

Then there are crypto scams. These can appear as World Cup-themed tokens, investment clubs, trading groups, celebrity-endorsed promotions or “limited” digital assets. The language changes, but the pattern is familiar: act now, get in early, don’t miss out.

Check Point has warned about shady World Cup-themed cryptocurrency tokens with no real backing, while Group-IB identified fraudulent betting and casino sites among the scams targeting fans.

Be especially wary of anything promising guaranteed returns. Real investments don’t work that way. Real betting platforms don’t need to hide who regulates them. And real celebrities are not sitting around waiting to help strangers in the comments section make passive income from a football token.

The internet is weird, yes. But not that weird.

9. Protect Your Accounts With Strong, Unique Passwords

Account takeover happens when someone gains access to one of your online accounts and uses it as if it belongs to them.

During the World Cup, that could mean someone accessing your ticketing account, transferring tickets, changing your email address, using stored payment details or locking you out. If they get into your email account, the risk becomes even bigger because email is often used to reset passwords for other services.

Weak and reused passwords make this much easier. If one account is breached and you’ve used the same password somewhere else, attackers can try those details across other platforms. This is called credential stuffing, which is simply automated password reuse at scale.

Yubico’s 2025 Global State of Authentication survey found that 60 per cent of respondents still use usernames and passwords for personal accounts. FIDO Alliance research also found that 36 per cent of surveyed consumers said they’d had at least one account compromised because of weak or stolen passwords.

Use strong, unique passwords for any account connected to tickets, travel, banking, email or social media. A password manager can help because it creates and stores complex passwords for you.

The most important account to protect is your email. If your email falls, everything connected to it becomes easier to attack.

10. Turn On Passkeys Or Multi-Factor Authentication Wherever Possible

A strong password is better than a weak one. But a password on its own still has limits.

That’s why passkeys and multi-factor authentication (MFA) matter.

A passkey is a safer way to sign in without relying on a normal password. Instead of typing a password that can be stolen or tricked out of you, a passkey uses your device and a secure verification method, such as your fingerprint, face scan or device PIN. The important part is that passkeys are designed to resist phishing. If you land on a fake website, your passkey won’t work there in the same way a stolen password would.

Multi-factor authentication is when an account asks for an extra step after your password. That might be an app code, biometric approval or hardware security key. A hardware security key is a small physical device you use to prove it’s really you logging in.

FIDO Alliance describes passkeys as phishing-resistant sign-ins designed to reduce reliance on passwords, while Yubico’s research shows why this matters: many people still depend on passwords even as phishing and account takeover risks keep growing.

Turn on passkeys wherever they’re available. Where they aren’t, use MFA. Avoid text message codes when stronger options exist, because SMS can be intercepted or abused. App-based authentication, device-based prompts and hardware security keys are stronger choices.

This may feel like a small step. It isn’t. Stronger authentication can be the difference between a scam attempt and a stolen account.

What To Do If You Think You’ve Been Scammed

Even careful people get caught. That’s not a character flaw. Scams are designed to move faster than your judgement.

If you think you’ve entered details on a fake site, paid a scammer or downloaded something suspicious, act quickly.

Change the password for the affected account first. Then change any other account where you used the same password. If your email account may be involved, secure that immediately because it’s often the recovery route for everything else.

Turn on multi-factor authentication if it isn’t already enabled. Contact your bank or payment provider if you entered card details or made a payment. They may be able to block the card, reverse a transaction or help monitor for fraud.

Report the scam to the platform where it happened, whether that’s a social network, marketplace, travel site, bank or ticketing provider. If personal information was exposed, check whether your local cybercrime reporting body or consumer protection authority accepts reports.

Then monitor your accounts closely. Look for unfamiliar logins, password reset emails, new payment activity or changes you didn’t make. The goal isn’t to panic. It’s to reduce the damage as quickly as possible.

Final Thoughts: The Best Defence Is Slowing Down

The biggest lesson from World Cup cybersecurity isn’t that fans need to become technical experts before they enjoy the tournament.

It’s that most scams depend on speed.

Cyber criminals want you excited, rushed, worried or desperate not to miss out. They want you to trust the link because it looks close enough. They want you to believe the seller because the tickets are almost gone. They want you to enter your password before you’ve had time to wonder why the page feels slightly off.

The best defence is slowing down. Check the website. Question the message. Verify the seller. Use official channels. Protect your accounts before match day. Turn on passkeys or multi-factor authentication where you can.

As major sporting events become more digital, online safety is becoming part of the fan experience too. Not because the joy of the game has changed, but because the way we buy, watch, travel and connect around it has.

For more practical guidance on cybersecurity, emerging technology and the digital trends shaping everyday life, keep up with EM360Tech’s latest analysis and expert insights.