Cybersecurity experts are cautioning fans to be on the lookout for phishing schemes, bogus travel packages, and phoney ticket websites as UAE citizens brace for the FIFA World Cup 2026, which will begin on June 11, reported Khaleej Times.
The warning coincides with the announcement of cybersecurity firm Kaspersky that it has discovered 336 websites that are impersonating official World Cup sources, and Travel Finder, a Dubai-based travel service, that it has received scores of queries from UAE football enthusiasts who intend to attend games.
"We have already detected 336 unique domains mimicking the official World Cup source," Olga Altukhova, Senior Web Content Analyst at Kaspersky, told Khaleej Times.
The company claims that cybercriminals are taking advantage of the increased excitement surrounding the tournament by fabricating phoney airline booking pages, false ticketing platforms, and fake hotel reservation websites that imitate authentic ones.
Users in the GCC, including the UAE, are included in the scope of these extensive operations, according to Kaspersky, even though the campaigns are not targeted at any one nation.
"Threat actors usually cast a wide net, without targeting specific audiences, waiting for unsuspecting victims to fall prey to their traps," Altukhova stated.
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The number is concerning, according to Mehak Khurana, an associate professor of cybersecurity at the Canadian University Dubai.
"Three hundred and thirty-six fake domains is a very big number," she replied. "If even one website traps 100 victims, you are potentially looking at tens of thousands of people being exposed to these scams."
She pointed out that many of the websites promote lodging, flights, visas, and full travel packages in addition to selling phoney match tickets.
The cautions are issued as travel agencies start to get interest from football fans in the United Arab Emirates who are keen to go to games in the United States, Canada, and Mexico, which will co-host the competition.
According to Travel Finder's founder, Divya Jagga, the company has already processed ten or twelve World Cup-related reservations and received between fifty and sixty queries from UAE citizens. The USA is the target of the majority of interest, she stated.
Depending on the length of the trip and the kind of ticket, package costs now range from Dh10,000 to Dh11,000 per person.
However, Jagga claimed that because of worries about visas and general uncertainty throughout the world, demand has been weaker than first anticipated. Due to the circumstances, some people are reluctant to travel and are still afraid of long trips. Many US visa appointments have been rescheduled, and the processing of Canadian visas is taking longer than two to three months," she said.
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Major athletic events have traditionally drawn scammers, according to cybersecurity specialists, but developments in artificial intelligence are making scams harder to identify.
According to experts, thieves can now create websites, marketing materials, emails, and social media content that closely resemble official businesses thanks to AI-powered tools.
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