As the world cup kicks off in Qatar, scammers are also kicking off their evil plans to scam people who are fixated on the world cup- and there are billions of football fans in the world.
Scamers love events such as the world cup because there are so many interested people who follow these events. Football is such a popular sport and Europe is known to have enthusiastic football fans who will be following the world cup 24/7, some flying all the way to watch some or all the games in person. This is a good time to enjoy a good game. But it’s also a time to be vigilant.
Please take note of some of these scams during the World Cup, some of which have already started taking shape:
Crypto scams
This one seems to have already taken off, as there were reports in Italy of a scam dubbed the UEFA football crypto fund that already scammed millions of Euros from thousands of people. Apparently, the scammers claimed that this is a crypto fund formed by a so-called UAE consortium and City Football. Take note that these two bodies don’t exist, completely.
Users were asked to invest some amounts ranging between $2-$120 per day and bet on some matches – up to two per day. Users were promised returns of 2.5% of their investment and a promise of refund if they made losses in betting.
Thousands of Italians have already been scammed in this crypto scam, estimated to be over 50,000 people. The money that the scammers are believed to have made away with runs into millions of euros. The scammers would then convert the stolen money into cryptos and send loot over to diverse crypto wallets, from where they would cash it out – clean money!
Luckily, the Italian body incharge of the country’s stock exchange, CONSOB, was able to suspend the scam website. As soon as the website was closed, the scammers came up with another genius way to scam the victims further. They told their users that the Italian government was demanding taxes and therefore all users were required to pay some money to cater for this tax demand, else “you lose your account”. That’s how brave these scammers can get.
Lotteries and ticket scams
Other scams to beware of during the world cup in Qatar include lottery scams where the cons will convince you that you have just won a lottery to go watch the world cup in person all for free. Of course this will sound so amazing and attractive to football lovers. But just know it’s a scam, especially if this is not being promoted by FIFA or a credible organization.
There are already scam websites pausing as the official website for the Qatar 2022 world cup tournament. Please note that https://www.qatar2022.qa is the only official website for the Qatar world cup, and of course you’ll also find credible information on the FIFA website (https://www.fifa.com). But scammers will try to set up all manner of variations that mimic this website with the sole intention of selling fake tickets to unsuspecting buyers.
Some users in social media platforms such as Reddit have already reported that some people are contacting them with the promise to sell them “legit” tickets at an affordable price.
Are you a football fan who is closely following the world cup in Qatar? Have you been approached by a person you suspect could be a scammer taking advantage of the world cup? Please talk to Scam Help about this and let’s share these dangers to help fight the scammers.
