Warning! FIFA Scam Sites
If something looks too good to be true, it probably is
It was reported last year that more than 4,000 FIFA World Cup domains were registered by scammers. This is when an official sounding “FIFA” or “World Cup” or “Boston 2026” website address is registered, with the intention of tricking the user into thinking it is officially affiliated with the FIFA World Cup, before taking credit card details.
Given there are so many of these scam websites out there, it is likely that at least one person reading this may inadvertently come across one and could be scammed out of their money.
This nearly happened today.
One of the subscribers on this website messaged me earlier today, saying he had found a website offering Scotland tickets at a fantastic price. Before he purchased, he wanted me to check the website out for him, just to be sure, as it seemed too good to be true. To make things worse, he found this website via a search on ChatGPT! The query was for the AI robot to recommend the best way to buy Scotland Vs Brazil tickets for the 2026 World Cup. ChatGPT recommended and linked him directly to this scam website (fifa.bio)!
I will be honest, when glancing at the scam website on my phone, I did not give him an instant answer. It looked incredibly similar to the real FIFA website. Same font, same layout. Same tickets. It looked like what it claimed to be - an affiliate FIFA site licensed to sell hospitality tickets. When logging on to a computer to check, there were some more obvious giveaways to show it was a scam, which I will get on to shortly. But first, have a look at some screenshots from the website. They are more sophisticated than they used to be.
The main clue was the prices. Hospitality for Scotland Vs Brazil was selling for less than $400. If something sounds too good to be true, it probably almost definitely is. However, if the prices were more realistic there are some other things you should look out for.
SIGNS THAT IT’S A SCAM
I would recommend loading the website on to a computer, so you can see it in full. Some of these websites will be more sophisticated than others, and you may have to look harder to find the proof. Don’t rush in to buying tickets, just because the price is “good”.
The signs it was a scam I found, included:
Imperfect AI generated popups - “2026TOfficial Hospitality”….. “food &drinklounge”
Login page can be bypassed by entering in any random characters as the email and password. Also no “sign in via google” option that most websites offer.
If it has an AI chatbot, ask it questions that should result in official answers. I asked for a FIFA email address and it replied with a random gmail.com account.
Click around the website to see where the links take you. “Contact us” page loaded a random whatsapp contact page.
Links to the official FIFA site just link back to the scam site
It’s unlikely anyone will come across or fall for these type of sites, but I thought it prudent to send out a warning email, just in case! If it sounds too good to be true, it is.
If you do happen to come across a phishing attempt like this, report it to Google Safe Browsing. Most modern browsers implement this list so it may stop people getting scammed in future.
https://safebrowsing.google.com/safebrowsing/report-url
I've reported this site
Very worthwhile message. Probably very little reported by the victims themselves, because of the shame they likely feel.. but we are are human and have vulnerabilities that make any of us potential prey for this type of thing, in any walk of life.