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Every four years, the World Cup unites just about everyone across cultures and borders in a celebration of athletic excellence. I say "just about everyone" because scammers never take a day off, not even for the World Cup. Between dodgy crypto investments, fake tickets and merch, and ads for phishing websites that look like official FIFA pages, scammers know how to create minefields for soccer fans, and gold mines for fellow criminals.
Ahead of the first match on June 11, I spoke to Shahak Shalev, global head of scam and AI research at Malwarebytes, to find out what fans are facing as they open their wallets and travel to see the games. He also offered tips to keep yourself and your data safe while enjoying the World Cup.
The Biggest World Cup Scams Targeting Fans in 2026
While football fans have been waiting four years for the 2026 World Cup, scammers have been preparing for it.
“A lot of marketing teams have a calendar with seasonal events, and scammers do the same,” Shalev said, speaking to me via a video call. He told me that AI tools make it easy to create the marketing materials needed to ensnare new scam victims, like fake apps and websites. I found that out myself earlier this year, when I created fake settlement claim websites using Google’s Gemini chatbot in just a few minutes.
Sometimes these sites or apps infect the victim’s devices with malware, but for scammers, making a quick buck is usually the primary objective. That’s why scam artists typically use these sites to entice potential phishing victims into handing over credit card numbers, email addresses, passwords, phone numbers, and other incredibly valuable data.
In addition to the typical phishing messages in text messages and emails, Shalev indicated that his team was seeing a lot of ads and social media posts linked to potential fraud. With that in mind, here’s a look at the biggest scams affecting World Cup fans online this year.
Fake FIFA Coins and Crypto Cons
The Malwarebytes team has seen a lot of ads and postings in social media groups about themed cryptocurrency related to the World Cup. Sometimes the coins are branded as generic World Cup coins, and others have FIFA branding. However the coins are marketed, Shalev says, they’re all bad news:
“Scammers love crypto, “Shalev said. “It helps them remain anonymous, and it's mostly impossible to reverse the transaction. If it has to do with crypto, just stop.”
Betting Sites Can Be Just as Dangerous as Bad Bets
In a similar vein, Shalev cautions against using new or unvetted gambling apps and websites, especially during the World Cup. Lots of scammers create new websites in the months leading up to a big event in hopes of luring in victims. The sites may look very professional and have logos or branding identical to those of legit apps and websites.
If you think the betting site you’re on is suspicious, find out when it was created. To do this, visit the ICANN Lookup website and paste the URL into the lookup tool. I asked Shalev how he knows when a site is old enough. He said, “If it's an official website, then we're talking about years. If it's a few months old, it's an immediate red flag.”
Website age isn’t the only indicator of a scam, though. As noted earlier, scammers keep content calendars, too. Some scammers may have registered their websites several years in advance, especially for an event with a lot of advance planning, like the World Cup.
In general, exercising caution is your best bet when placing bets on World Cup matches online. If a website or app offers you money to place bets, stop what you’re doing and start looking for reviews from other people about the platform. He recommended using scam-checking tools to detect scammy betting sites, like Malwarebytes’ own Scam Guard, or you can use any of the tools in PCMag’s scam protection list.
Counterfeit Jerseys and Phantom Tickets
In addition to fake gambling apps, scammers can use AI tools to whip up counterfeit merch and websites selling nonexistent tickets, and to run contests and giveaways for fake World Cup tickets. Again, Shalev recommends staying skeptical when you see ads for World Cup-related jerseys or tickets.
“AI really helps [scammers] step up their game when it comes to creating convincing offers,” he said. “If the offer is too good to be true, it is.”
Shalev said his team saw a lot of fraudulent ticket-selling activity in Facebook groups with thousands of members. He described a scenario in which a researcher asked a prospective seller to get him tickets for a match between two countries that are not playing in the World Cup, and the seller happily obliged.
If a seller is willing to let go of tickets at a deep discount, or always has a ready supply of tickets for high-profile matches, you’re likely negotiating with a scammer, and you should disengage immediately.
Fake World Cup Sites
In addition to fake merch and ticket websites, look out for fake World Cup streaming websites, too. Some websites may charge a subscription fee to watch all matches and then give you access to AI-generated videos or videos of all soccer matches. Other websites may show the actual match live streams, but the sites themselves may be riddled with malware-laden ads or require you to watch a bunch of ads to access the matches.
Good news: You don’t have to invest in an expensive streaming service or risk a dodgy live stream. Check out our guide to watching the FIFA World Cup live for free, without a cable subscription.
Did You Spot A Scammer? Report Them
It’s much easier to recover from a scam if you catch it immediately. If you think you may have been caught up in a World Cup-related scam, report it right away.
“Hackers and scammers move really fast. Their infrastructure is very well developed, so that’s how they operate,” said Shalev.
World Cup matches begin on June 11 in Mexico City and conclude on July 19 in New York City.