Large gatherings like a World Cup are a scammer's dream
As the World Cup arrives in North America this summer, the record cost of attendance has created something more than a financial burden — it has created a vulnerability. Criminal networks, some state-sponsored, are systematically targeting fans whose desire to witness history outpaces their caution. What looks like a ticketing market is also, in the shadows, a coordinated infrastructure of fraud, coercion, and exploitation that follows every great gathering of human longing.
- Ticket prices have reached historic highs, and the gap between what fans can afford and what they desperately want is precisely where scammers set their traps.
- Fraud analysts project more than 28,500 suspicious transactions tied to the tournament — spanning fake tickets, travel schemes, and phishing attacks run by organized criminal networks across multiple continents.
- Behind the financial crime lies something darker: forced labor in scam call centers and sex trafficking networks that mobilize around major sporting events, with victims sometimes arrested alongside the criminals who control them.
- At the Super Bowl earlier this year — held at a stadium that will host six World Cup matches — 29 traffickers were arrested and 73 sex trafficking victims recovered, offering a grim preview of what authorities now expect to confront at far greater scale.
- FIFA has yet to issue public guidance, leaving fans with a single clear directive from fraud experts: purchase only through official channels, and treat any deal that seems too good to be true as the threat it almost certainly is.
The World Cup is coming to North America this summer, and alongside the anticipation travels something darker — a coordinated wave of fraud aimed at the fans most desperate to attend. Ticket prices have climbed to record levels, and that combination of scarcity, cost, and longing is exactly what criminal networks are built to exploit.
Nuno Sebastiao, who runs financial crime detection firm Feedzai, put it plainly: large gatherings like a World Cup are a scammer's dream. The typical fan isn't wealthy, wants badly to go, and may take risks — clicking a discount link, wiring money to a plausible-seeming seller, entering payment details on a site that looks almost legitimate. That desperation is the opening.
The nonprofit The Knoble projects more than 28,500 suspicious transactions tied to the tournament globally, clustering around fake tickets, travel scams, and phishing attacks. Some operations are small-time, but much of it is organized — Sebastiao pointed to networks backed by Iran and North Korea, as well as criminal enterprises in Latin America, Africa, and Eastern Europe, many with deliberate cultural and linguistic targeting of specific fan communities.
The criminal infrastructure around these events does more than steal money. Sebastiao described call centers where workers with confiscated passports are forced to run phishing schemes around the clock. Around venues, trafficking networks exploit vulnerable people in the sex trade — and when arrests are made, some of those taken in are themselves victims coerced into crime.
The Super Bowl in the San Francisco Bay Area earlier this year offered a preview: 29 traffickers arrested, 73 sex trafficking victims recovered including 10 minors. That same stadium hosts six World Cup matches this summer. Law enforcement is preparing a similar operation, but the World Cup's scale — multiple venues, international audience, months of activity — will demand far more. FIFA has not yet responded to questions about fan protections. The guidance, for now, is simple: buy only through official channels, and treat any bargain that seems too good to be true as the warning it almost certainly is.
The World Cup is coming to North America this summer, and with it comes something darker than the usual pre-tournament excitement: a coordinated wave of fraud targeting the very people most desperate to attend. Ticket prices have climbed to record levels, and that combination—scarcity, cost, desire—is exactly what criminal networks exploit.
Nuno Sebastiao runs Feedzai, a company that helps banks detect financial crime. He sees the pattern clearly. "Large gatherings like a World Cup are a scammer's dream," he told Reuters. The math is simple: tickets cost more than they ever have before. Transport costs are steep. A typical football fan isn't wealthy. They want to go badly enough that they'll take risks—click a link promising a discount, wire money to a seller who seems legitimate, hand over payment details to a website that looks almost right. That desperation is the opening criminals need.
The scale of what's coming is staggering. A nonprofit called The Knoble, which tracks financial crime, released a forecast earlier this month projecting more than 28,500 suspicious transactions tied to the World Cup globally. The fraud will cluster around three areas: fake tickets, travel scams, and phishing attacks. Some of this is run by small-time operators, but much of it is organized. Sebastiao pointed to networks backed by Iran and North Korea—countries where conventional law enforcement has no reach. There are also operations running out of Latin America, parts of Africa, and Eastern Europe, places where criminals have linguistic and cultural familiarity with the fans they're targeting.
But the criminal infrastructure around major sporting events does more than steal money. It fuels human trafficking and exploitation. Sebastiao described massive call centers where workers—people who've had their passports confiscated—are forced to work brutal hours making phishing calls and running scams. On the ground around venues, trafficking networks exploit vulnerable people, particularly women and girls, in the sex trade. When law enforcement makes arrests at these events, Sebastiao noted, some of those arrested are themselves victims: undocumented immigrants or trafficking survivors coerced into committing crimes.
The Super Bowl held in the San Francisco Bay Area earlier this year offers a preview. Santa Clara County's Human Trafficking Task Force arrested 29 traffickers and recovered 73 sex trafficking victims, including 10 minors. The same stadium will host six World Cup matches in June and July. Law enforcement is preparing a similar operation—but the scale of the World Cup, with multiple venues across the country and an international audience, will be far larger.
FIFA has not yet responded to questions about what guidance it's offering fans or what protective measures it's putting in place. For now, the warning is clear: the higher the stakes, the more organized the criminals become. Fans who want to attend should buy tickets only through official channels, verify seller credentials carefully, and understand that a deal that seems too good to be true almost certainly is.
Notable Quotes
Large gatherings like a World Cup are a scammer's dream. The cost of these events is fairly high, and people are always trying to get a good deal somehow. That's what these criminals prey on.— Nuno Sebastiao, CEO of Feedzai
We're talking about global networks sponsored by Iran and North Korea, where our system of justice cannot reach. But we also see operations in Latin America, some African countries, and Eastern European countries.— Nuno Sebastiao
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why does a sporting event create such a perfect environment for fraud? Isn't there fraud everywhere?
There is, but the World Cup concentrates everything. You have millions of people, all wanting the same thing at the same time, all willing to spend money they might not have. That creates urgency. Scammers thrive on urgency.
And the criminal networks—are these just opportunists, or is this actually organized?
It's highly organized. We're talking about networks with state backing in some cases, call centers with enslaved workers, coordination across continents. This isn't a guy in his basement. It's infrastructure.
The human trafficking angle seems almost separate from the ticket fraud. Are they connected?
They're not separate at all. The same events that draw scammers draw traffickers. Both exploit the chaos and the crowds. Both target vulnerable people. The ticket fraud brings in money; the trafficking brings in forced labor and sexual exploitation.
So if I'm a fan who really wants to go, what's the actual risk?
You could lose money on a fake ticket. You could have your identity stolen. But the bigger picture is that your desire to attend is funding criminal networks that traffic people. That's the weight of it.
Can anything actually stop this?
Law enforcement can disrupt it, arrest people, recover victims. But as long as the event exists and prices are high, the incentive for criminals exists too. It's a constant game.