PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Looking for World Cup tickets or merch? Be careful, the FBI said scammers are trying to steal personal financial information through fake FIFA websites.
According to the FBI, cybercriminals have built dozens of FIFA look-alike websites to trick people into forking over sensitive information, like names, addresses, phone numbers and banking details.
The sites look similar to FIFA’s official website (https://www.fifa.com/en), with minor changes, like a slight misspelling — "Fiffa" instead of "FIFA" — or using ".org" instead of ".com." The FBI refers to this type of cyberattack as “typo squatting.” It relies on internet users making slight typos when visiting a URL.
The FBI has identified more than 30 fraudulent domains and expects more to appear as the tournament continues.
The FBI said fans should type www.fifa.com directly into their browser, avoid sponsored search results, and never enter personal information on an unverified site.
Suspicious websites can be reported to the Internet Crime Complaint Center at ic3.gov
