Chinese-speaking fraud gang could be stealing millions from 2026 World Cup fans

Source: The Record

Chinese-speaking fraudsters have built a clone of FIFA's official website across more than 300 domains in an attempt to steal credentials and payment details from fans seeking tickets to the 2026 World Cup. The operation could put billions of dollars at risk when accounting for credential theft, fake ticket sales, counterfeit merchandise, fraudulent streaming sites and unlicensed gambling platforms. The potential scale of the fraud mirrors the scale of the 2026 World Cup, with 48 teams competing across 104 matches in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. The group behind the fraud, which Group-IB designated GHOST STADIUM and first observed in Nov. 2025, is one of four independent threat actors the firm identified targeting the tournament. Collectively those criminals have registered more than 4,300 fraudulent domains impersonating FIFA's official web presence since Aug. 2025. Full Story