The 2026 World Cup scam economy is already running before the first whistle

### Executive summary The report warns of a large-scale surge of World Cup 2026-themed online scams—fake ticket and merchandise shops, phony visa services, crypto tokens and prediction pools—that use FIFA and partner branding, urgency tricks (countdown timers, fake stock), and lookalike domains to defraud fans; it catalogs categories, real examples, attacker techniques, and practical mitigation steps including verification of official domains and steps to take if compromised.