World Cup scams: how to avoid an own goal

Whether travelling to enjoy the matches in person, or watching from home, fans should be on the lookout for foul play

Have you been looking forward to the 2018 FIFA World Cup? So have scammers, kicking it up a notch and looking to cash in on the hype surrounding the quadrennial soccer extravaganza. The fraudsters will attempt to gain access to your personal data, typically credit card details or login credentials, using various methods. What are some of the scams that you may encounter?

Sting in the tail

One common method is to tout a variety of “wares” in large-scale campaigns: cheap match tickets, ticket-inclusive hospitality packages, accommodation-booking services, flights to match-hosting cities, to name just a few. These “bargains” are typically hawked via fraudulent emails or social media posts and messages that, as is their wont, play on people’s emotions. Who doesn’t like a good deal, after all?

Naturally, there’s a kicker. Once the targets are bamboozled into believing that the spam offers something they want or need and click on the provided link, they end up on a phishing website that can convincingly imitate World Cup branding or might even be an outright duplicate of the genuine site. Having been requested to do so, the recipients dutifully input their personal information so they can pay for and receive their “tickets”. Armed with credit card details thus provided, the attackers will raid the victims’ bank accounts.

Fraudsters also impersonate FIFA, its sponsors, or event sponsors and partners such as Visa, Adidas or Coca-Cola, to send missives to congratulate you on your “win” in a lottery. In order for your “prize” to be released, they will ask for your personal details and/or request a payment upfront in a kind of “advance-fee scam”.

Showing the red card to scammers

FIFA has warned that match tickets are only available on its site, while official ticket inlusive hospitalitiy packares are only available through an appointed company and its sales agents. A number of ticket listings and sites claiming to sell tickets have been removed, but we’re unlikely to have seen the last of them. The same goes for fake offers on legitimate (e.g. auction or social media) sites. By purchasing tickets from anywhere other than the official source, you’re very unlikely to gain admission to the stadium.

Fever pitch

As we inch closer to the World Cup, the attackers will seek to exploit the fever that will increasingly grip footie fans. Anything related to the tournament and players will be hot news, which ultimately increases the likelihood that a victim will click a malicious link or open a malicious attachment. At the risk of repeating ourselves, the bottom line is never to succumb to the temptation if the message comes from an unknown sender, or if it is an unsolicited message from a known sender, since it’s easy to spoof email adrdresse And, as the old soccer adage says, when in doubt, kick it out (Eset).