WASHINGTON, DC – DECEMBER 05: FIFA World Cup Trophy is displayed prior to the FIFA World Cup 2026 Official Draw at John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on December 05, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Hector Vivas – FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)
FIFA via Getty Images
The FBI is warning people about scammers setting up phony FIFA websites to lure people into paying for tickets or merchandise that they will never receive or provide personal information that will lead to identity theft. Often the scammers will use URLs that at first glance such as www.fiffa.com may appear to be the legitimate www.fifa.com site. Among the many other counterfeit websites that the FBI identified are www.fifa-online.com and jobs-fifa.com. By using AI, the scammers can make their counterfeit websites appear legitimate.
The cybersecurity company Group-IB identified more than 4,300 phony FIFA websites registered since August 2025. Tickets to the games are in high demand with more than 150 million ticket requests made to FIFA in just the first 15 days tickets were made available. Some of the phony FIFA websites contain fake login pages that ask you to reset your password. Doing so will enable the scammer to take over your FIFA account and resell any tickets tied to the account.
One way you can confirm if a website is legitimate is to use Whois.com which is a free service that will tell you who owns a particular URL and how long it has been in service. If your FIFA website has only been around six months and is owned by someone in Nigeria, it certainly is a scam.
Phony lotteries that appear to be operated by FIFA or its corporate sponsors, such as Visa or Coca Cola are also popular with scammers. Victims receive emails or text messages informing them that they have won a lottery that they never entered and are asked to pay fees or income taxes in order to claim their prize. They also may be required to provide personal information, which is then used for purposes of identity theft.
There also are numerous scammers selling “official” merchandise through phony FIFA websites that often merely steal your credit card information and send nothing in return.
Many of the phony FIFA websites are promoted through advertisements on social media. For its part Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram is using artificial intelligence systems to recognize phony FIFA websites and fake ticket advertisements. Meta is also partnering with Visa as well as the Global Signal Exchange (GSE) and the Fraud Intelligence Reciprocal Exchange (FIRE) which enable intelligence sharing about scams and help coordinate efforts to disrupt the criminal networks creating the scam websites. The collaboration between Meta and Visa using GSE already resulted in the removal of phony FIFA posts on Facebook that directed users to fake gambling sites. Facebook has also initiated pop-up notifications to remind people to make sure they are getting tickets from legitimate sources.
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TIPS FOR AVOIDING WORLD CUP SCAMS
When looking for the FIFA website, don’t use links you may receive in an email, text message or social media post. Instead, type in www.fifa.com directly.
It is impossible to know if any of the emails or text messages that you receive regarding the World Cup are legitimate, so do yourself a favor and stick to either the official FIFA website, www.fifa.com or other sports websites that you know are legitimate, such as ESPN’s www.espn.com.. As for purchasing official merchandise, again you are better off only dealing with the official FIFA website.
When paying for anything online you should never use your debit card. Credit cards provide much more protection in the event of fraud.
As for World Cup related lotteries, it is impossible to win a lottery you have not entered so that should be warning enough not to click on links in emails or text messages regarding a lottery you apparently have won although you never entered. In addition, no legitimate lottery requires you to pay administrative fees or taxes to claim your prize. Only phony lotteries do. Anytime you are asked to pay a fee to claim your prize it is a scam.