The 2026 FIFA World Cup is a prime target for cybercriminals. With millions of fans flocking to the stadiums and the internet alike, scammers are employing advanced technologies to create convincing phishing campaigns. AI-generated websites, deepfake videos, and fabricated audio are making it increasingly difficult to distinguish between real and fake.

“The World Cup is the perfect opportunity for scammers—you couldn’t create a better one,” says David Holtzman from Naoris Protocol. “This is soccer. It feels fun and harmless, which lowers people’s defenses.”

Fans are warned of common scams such as fake ticket sales, fraudulent services, and misleading accommodation offers. The sheer scale of the operation is enormous: over 4,300 fraudulent domains impersonate FIFA’s official web presence alone.

“Companies are increasingly relying on collaboration between platforms, cybersecurity firms, and law enforcement to track potential threats,” says Basma Ammari from Meta. “But even with these measures in place, what consumers need to understand is that many of the old ways of identifying scams simply aren’t as reliable any more.”

AI may be making scams harder to spot, but it’s also becoming one of the cybersecurity industry's most powerful defensive tools. By analyzing vast amounts of data and detecting unusual patterns, it can help identify suspicious domains and anticipate emerging threats.