The risk is not just fake ticket ads. The bigger problem is a built-out fraud market that can steal FIFA logins, resell tickets, and drain payments as soon as demand spikes around kickoff.
Researchers and the FBI say World Cup 2026 scams are already live, with more than 4,300 fraudulent FIFA domains tracked by Group-IB and more than 13,000 World Cup-themed domains found by FortiGuard Labs. One cluster uses a near-perfect copy of FIFA's login flow and password reset path, while other campaigns push banking malware through pirate streaming apps and use cloned payment options, including crypto.
The setup matters because the infrastructure is already in place. That lets fraud scale fast during the tournament window, when tickets are scarce and fans are easiest to pressure into trusting a lookalike site.