With the FIFA World Cup kicking off June 11 across the US, Canada, and Mexico, the FBI and researchers at Group-IB and Fortinet warn that a large fraud operation is already running. Group-IB tracked more than 4,300 fake FIFA websites and a Chinese-speaking crew, GHOST STADIUM, that cloned the official site pixel-for-pixel, fake login and all, across 300-plus domains. Scams include bogus ticket, merchandise, and hospitality sites, fake streaming apps that hide banking malware, and betting sites that harvest passport scans for identity theft. With tickets scarce and 150 million requests filed, scammers are exploiting fans' urgency to steal logins, money, and personal data.
The FBI has issued a public service announcement warning of hundreds of fake FIFA-themed phishing and fraud sites ahead of the 2026 World Cup running June 11 to July 19 in the US, Canada, and Mexico. Domains include fiffa[.]com and alternative TLDs (.org, .xyz, .live, .sale) plus fake employment portals like jobs-fifa[.]com and fifa-hiring[.]com. The fraudulent sites collect names, addresses, phone numbers, and banking/payment details; the data is used for fake-ticket sales, hospitality-package scams, identity theft, and fraudulent account creation. Group-IB and Bitdefender confirmed parallel malvertising via Google Search, Facebook, Telegram, and WhatsApp, with one major operation attributed to a Chinese-speaking gang.
TrustStrike Labs