The FBI’s warning about fake FIFA websites is an important reminder for football fans: scammers are already exploiting excitement around the 2026 World Cup. Fake websites are being created to look like official FIFA pages, ticket portals, hospitality platforms, or event-related services, with the goal of stealing personal details, banking information, or money through fake ticket and hospitality offers.

Users should be extremely careful before buying World Cup tickets, packages, merchandise, or travel-related services online. Fake websites may use small spelling changes, extra hyphens, unusual domain endings, or official-looking branding to appear legitimate. A website can look polished and still be fake, because scammers have also discovered graphic design, tragically. 

The safest approach is to type the official FIFA website address directly into the browser, bookmark trusted pages, and avoid clicking ticket links from ads, social media posts, WhatsApp messages, emails, or unknown websites. Never enter card details, passport information, address, phone number, or login credentials unless the site has been verified carefully. 

Fans should also be cautious of “limited time” ticket offers, discounted hospitality packages, urgent payment requests, crypto payment demands, or sellers asking to move the conversation to private messaging apps. If a deal looks too good to be true, it is probably not a deal. It is bait wearing a football jersey. 

The simple rule is: verify before you pay. For major events like the World Cup, scammers follow excitement, urgency, and emotion. A few seconds spent checking the domain can prevent stolen money, identity theft, and a very expensive lesson in cyber hygiene.

The FBI is warning of fake websites impersonating FIFA ahead of the 2026 World Cup, to steal personal and financial information, sell fake tickets and hospitality packages, and push other fraud related to the event. [...]

Source: FBI warns of fake FIFA websites running World Cup fraud schemes via Bleeping Computer — published 28 May 2026.