FIFA World Cup 2022 scams: Beware of fake lotteries, ticket fraud and other cons

guest · Nov 12, 2022

By Juan Manuel Harán - November 11, 2022

The FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar is just about to kick off! From November 20th through December 18th, one of this year’s most important global events will attract hundreds of millions of football (or soccer if you prefer) fans from all over the world. But as we’ve seen before, online fraudsters invariably use the buzz surrounding such major events to defraud not only sports fans.

Let’s look at how scammers are kicking it up a notch in the run-up to the upcoming edition of the quadrennial tournament and how you can avoid falling foul of their ploys.
Click to expand...

Lottery scams
In one tried-and-tested variety of scams, criminals make victims believe they won a cash prize or a ticket or hospitality package to watch a match in person. The real intention, however, is typically the same: get you to hand over your personal data or money or unwittingly download info-stealing malware into your device.
Rogue websites
Sometimes a more convincing (if you don’t pay much attention to detail, that is) variety of phishing fraud involves rogue websites posing as the real ones. Links to them are also distributed through spam emails, via fake social media profiles or in discussion forums.
Click to expand...

Ticket scams
A number of people have already reported being contacted via email by “FIFA officials” who offered tickets for sale. Meanwhile, Reddit users are sharing message exchanges with people offering fake printed tickets.
Other ways to get scammed
Recently, a crypto token called FIFA Inu was launched and before long it started receiving accusations of being a cryptocurrency scam because of the sudden drop it suffered after a sustained rise. However, its founders assure that the accusations are false. However, it is always advisable to be careful when investing money.
Click to expand...

guest · Nov 12, 2022

Qatar World Cup Firms Urged to Upgrade Cyber-Threat Model
Phil Muncaster UK / EMEA News Reporter, Infosecurity Magazine - November 11, 2022

Organizing bodies and key partners of the FIFA World Cup in Qatar this autumn have been warned to enhance their resilience against a potential barrage of cyber-threats.
Click to expand...

Threat intelligence firm Digital Shadows claimed that the world’s most-watched sporting event would invite scrutiny from a variety of threat actors.

“Scams could present themselves in many forms. For instance, financially motivated threat actors often plant in malicious URLs spoofing these events to fraudulent sites, hoping to maximize their chances of scamming naive internet users for a quick profit,” it warned in a blog post.

“At the same time, hacktivist groups may exploit the public attention given to such events to exponentially increase the reach of their message. State-sponsored advanced persistent threat (APT) groups may also decide to target global sporting events like the Qatar 2022 World Cup to achieve state goals to the hosting country or the broader event community.”
Click to expand...

Digital Shadows: Cyber Threats To The FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022

Sporting events, like the upcoming FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 (Qatar 2022 World Cup), attract massive attention from every corner of the world. Just think, the last edition of the tournament in Russia was watched by a combined 3.57 billion viewers, equating to more than half of the global population aged four and over.

Unfortunately, football fans aren’t the only ones tuning in to watch some of the best players in the world defending their national colors. Cyber threat actors, with varying resources and motivations, are highly interested in these eye-catching events too.
Click to expand...

guest · Nov 17, 2022

Euro Authorities Warn World Cup Fans Over Qatari Apps
Phil Muncaster UK / EMEA News Reporter, Infosecurity Magazine - November 16, 2022

European privacy experts have warned FIFA World Cup attendees that their personal data may be at risk if they download two local tracking apps.
Click to expand...

The two apps in question are contract-tracing software Ehteraz, which football fans may be asked to download if they’re forced to visit healthcare facilities during their stay in Qatar, and official World Cup app Hayya.

The latter functions as a fan ID app that may be needed to gain entry into stadiums. However, concerns have been raised that it also tracks device location and network connections, even preventing devices from going into sleep mode.
Click to expand...

Many, including the Norwegian Data Protection Authority, expressed alarm at the excessive permissions requested by the apps and urged users to take burner phones to the tournament.

German data protection agency, BfDI, said that “the data processing of both apps probably goes much further” than their descriptions in the app store indicate.

“Among other things, one of the apps collects data on whether and with which number a telephone call is made. This sometimes involves sensitive telecommunications connection data,” it explained.
“Among other things, the other app actively prevents the device on which it is installed from going into sleep mode. It is also obvious that the data used by the apps not only remain locally on the device, but are also transmitted to a central server.”
Click to expand...

The BfDI's French equivalent, CNIL, has also released a checklist for privacy-conscious travellers.

Neil Jones, director of cybersecurity evangelism at Egnyte, argued that the data collected by the apps could also be a treasure trove for would-be cyber-criminals.
Click to expand...

guest · Nov 20, 2022

Cybercriminals looking to score with World Cup scams
By Ian Barker @IanDBarker - November 18, 2022

But this year there's also the FIFA World Cup in Qatar to add to the mix.

Leaving aside the debate over whether the tournament should have been held in the Gulf state in the first place, researchers at Kaspersky have been looking at the scams aimed at stealing football (soccer for Americans) fans' identity and banking details.
Click to expand...

Ticketing scams are the most common, offering tickets for sale or offering to buy them in an attempt to get hold of personal and payment information. Since legitimate tickets for the event are only being issued in digital form they are an attractive target for the scammers.

Giveaways are another common lure -- as in the example below -- users clicking the link will of course 'win' but will then be asked to pay a 'delivery charge'. There are fake World Cup related merchandise stores too offering another opportunity to hand cash to fraudsters.
Click to expand...

Researchers have also spotted scams relating to crypto and NFTs. Some of these offer to make a bet on a match in order to win cryptocurrency, others to win related NFT art. Of course they really want you to part with your crypto wallet details.

"Major sports events always attract the attention of cybercriminals," says Olga Svistunova, security expert at Kaspersky.
[...] These schemes are simple, yet, effective and is why such fraudulent pages are eternal companions of big events. We encourage users to be attentive when they receive offers that seem too good to be true and carefully check the validity of the messages they receive."
Click to expand...

Kaspersky: Kaspersky names top 5 World Cup cyber scams

November 17, 2022
Kaspersky researchers have released a list of the top five scams capitalizing on the upcoming FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™.
Ticketing scams [...] Gifts [...] Merchandise [...]
Crypto and NFT frauds [...] Flights and accommodations [...]
Click to expand...

Log in or Sign up

FIFA World Cup 2022 scams: Beware of fake lotteries, ticket fraud and other cons

guest Guest

guest Guest

guest Guest

guest Guest

Log in or Sign up

FIFA World Cup 2022 scams: Beware of fake lotteries, ticket fraud and other cons

guest Guest

guest Guest

guest Guest

guest Guest

Useful Searches