The FBI has issued a warning about thousands of fake FIFA websites designed to steal personal and financial information from fans ahead of this summer’s World Cup. The alert, which the bureau published on May 27, 2026, was reported by BroBible, and it details how scammers are using near-identical branding to impersonate official FIFA pages. The goal is to harvest names, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, and banking credentials from unsuspecting visitors.
The FBI explained that these fraudulent sites rely on a technique called typo squatting, where scammers register URLs that look nearly identical to legitimate ones but contain minor misspellings or alternative domain extensions. Examples include fiffa[.]com, and variations using .org or .pub instead of the standard .com. The scam is not limited to ticket hunters either. The bureau identified employment-focused fakes such as jobs-fifa[.]com and fifa-careerhub[.]com, which are built to trap job seekers rather than fans shopping for seats.
A list of already-identified scam domains includes sites like www.fifa[.]cab, fifa[.]beer, fifa[.]help, and worldcup2026-tickets.com[.]mx, among others. The FBI expects more to appear as the tournament draws closer. Anyone engaging with FIFA-related content online should treat unfamiliar sites with serious caution.
Scammers are counting on fans letting their guard down
The FBI has outlined several steps fans can take to stay protected. The most important is to type fifa.com directly into your browser rather than relying on search engine results, since sponsored listings can send you to fraudulent pages. Official sites should be bookmarked to avoid the need to search for them again.
Fans should also pay close attention to site design. Low-quality graphics, unprofessional layouts, or anything that feels off are immediate red flags. For anyone navigating to specific subdomains like plus.fifa.com, the FBI recommends starting from the official homepage rather than typing the subdomain directly into a browser. Malicious advertisements are another known trap, and the bureau warns fans to verify URLs before clicking any World Cup-related ad. This is a particularly timely warning for those already frustrated by fans misled on ticket purchases, who may be more likely to seek alternative purchasing routes.
The FBI stressed that scammers build these sites specifically to capture information entered during what victims believe is a legitimate transaction. Anyone who thinks they may have already been targeted should file a complaint with the Internet Crime Complaint Center at www.ic3.gov, including the fake domain, a description of what information was shared, and any financial transaction details. With World Cup travel costs already drawing significant attention this summer, the last thing fans should face is losing money or their identity to a convincing fake.
Published: May 30, 2026 11:30 am