{"id":199943,"date":"2026-03-11T15:05:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-11T15:05:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/199943\/"},"modified":"2026-03-11T15:05:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-11T15:05:13","slug":"world-cup-scams-await-fans-in-north-texas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/199943\/","title":{"rendered":"World Cup scams await fans in North Texas"},"content":{"rendered":"

Welcome to North Texas, World Cup<\/a> fans.<\/p>\n

The premier sports event runs from June 11 to July 19. And while Lionel Messi dazzles crowds inside Arlington\u2019s stadium, scammers will be working the crowd outside \u2014 selling fake tickets, bogus merchandise and empty promises.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m the DallasNews.com Watchdog<\/a>, and part of my job is making sure you don\u2019t fall for it.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll share tips to keep you out of harm\u2019s way<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Watchdog Alert<\/p>\n

Are you a taxpayer in Texas? The Watchdog has your back.<\/p>\n

By signing up, you agree to our\u00a0Terms of Service<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n

Ticket scams<\/p>\n

Supposedly, there could be dozens of people who own a ticket to the same seat.<\/p>\n

Ticket fraud is rampant. But it appears FIFA, the world governing association for soccer, has come up with a couple of novel ways to stop ticket fraud.<\/p>\n

The first is that fifa.com<\/a> is the only authorized seller of game tickets. So forget shady characters<\/a>, or fake websites. <\/p>\n

The second protection is that tickets can also get resold through the same Fifa.com<\/a> website.<\/p>\n

Related<\/p>\n

\"FIFAScam alerts<\/p>\n

Never wire money overseas. If you\u2019re told to pay with gift cards or Venmo or the Cash app, it\u2019s an absolute scam.<\/p>\n

Always make sure you\u2019re on Fifa.com, not, as an example, FifaFootball.com or any site where it looks like the original site, not an imposter.<\/p>\n

Fifa.com is mobile ready for ticket sales. Printouts or screenshots will not work.<\/p>\n

Avoid social media sellers. They\u2019ll make for an impressive sale pitch, but its likely they won\u2019t have real tickets.<\/p>\n

Reservation scams<\/p>\n

Are you looking for a place to stay at a reasonable price? Real estate scams are so easy to fall for. Look at those pretty pictures of the property. And the rental price is so cheap. Hmm.<\/p>\n

Reverse search the property on the web. Check Google Images and Google Earth<\/a>.<\/p>\n

You might find out that the property is actually a postal box.<\/p>\n

Public transportation<\/p>\n

You might already know that the Arlington stadium is situated in what could be America\u2019s largest city without regular public transportation<\/a>. Shuttle buses and other temporary transports will ferry fans during the World Cup.<\/p>\n

Perhaps you want to rent a car? I\u2019m sure prices will spike. But check out my favorite car rental site, autoslash.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Parking alert<\/p>\n

Be wary of parking. Many private property owners allow fans to park on their property. How much? Too soon to know, but I bet the price will be high and likely divisible by 10 \u2013 as in $30, or $40, or even $50.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t pay to park using an app like Venmo or Cash.com. In this, cash is king. Don\u2019t fall for the popular scam where you\u2019re told you need to buy a separate parking license. No such thing.<\/p>\n

Avoid QR codes<\/p>\n

Watch out for QR codes. They could be a gateway to a malicious website.<\/p>\n

Also remember to pay with credit cards because they sometimes offer buyer protections \u2014 unlike debit cards, apps and wire transfers.<\/p>\n

The Better Business Bureau suggests you research ticket sellers, and what their customers post about them.<\/p>\n

Experts warn to avoid ticket sellers outside the stadium. Ask for proof of sale showing where they acquired the tickets. If you buy tickets outside the stadium and they turn out to be bogus, good luck finding the culprit. The scammers scrammed.<\/p>\n

Online merch <\/p>\n

Authorities expect fake online FIFA shops to peddle bogus merchandise. You might get what you ordered. You might not.<\/p>\n

Arlington\u2019s stadium will host nine World Cup games \u2014 more than any other city.<\/p>\n

More games mean more excitement. They also give scammers more chances to take their shot.<\/p>\n

Stay alert. And if your visit goes off without a hitch, the feeling will be almost as sweet as watching Messi find the back of the net.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Welcome to North Texas, World Cup fans. The premier sports event runs from June 11 to July 19.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":199944,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[150,152,151,2353,154,3814,10322],"class_list":["post-199943","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arlington","tag-arlington","tag-arlington-headlines","tag-arlington-news","tag-commentary","tag-sports","tag-tourism","tag-watchdog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199943","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=199943"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199943\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/199944"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=199943"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=199943"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=199943"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}