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The FBI is warning soccer fans to watch out for fraudulent websites impersonating FIFA amid the World Cup this summer, as the agency says cybercriminals are using fake domains to sell counterfeit tickets and steal personal information.
In a public service announcement issued Tuesday, the FBI said cyber threat actors have launched spoofing attacks designed to mimic FIFA’s official website alongside the event hosted by the U.S., Canada and Mexico.
“The FBI has identified actors engaging in this activity to collect personal information, sell fake World Cup tickets and hospitality products, and to possibly facilitate other malicious activity,” the announcement reads.
Spoofed websites are being used to intentionally deceive users into thinking they are interacting with a legitimate website, the FBI warned. The threat actors are then able to collect personally identifiable information (PII), including names, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses and banking details.
“If a threat actor gains access to a victim’s PII, they can create new accounts in a victim’s name and ultimately defraud the victim.”
The sites have also been used to sell fake World Cup tickets and hospitality packages, nonexistent employment opportunities and other malicious activity, according to the FBI.
Scammers often rely on a tactic known as “typosquatting,” where cybercriminals register website domains that closely resemble legitimate addresses, relying on internet users to make mistakes like common typos. Examples include slight misspellings of FIFA’s official website, fifa.com, or the use of alternative domain extensions such as “.org” instead of “.com.”
The FBI identified dozens of fraudulent domains already linked to the scheme, including fifa-online[dot]com and jobs-fifa[dot]com.
Officials advised users to verify website URLs before entering sensitive information and to navigate directly to FIFA’s official website by typing it into their browser rather than relying on search engine results, warning that sponsored advertisements can sometimes direct users to fraudulent websites.
Victims who believe they have been targeted by the scam can file a complaint with the Internet Crime Complaint Center.
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