With the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa just a month away and fans anxious to follow their teams as closely as possible, some of them could fall victim to scams and cybercrime, warns brand protection expert MarkMonitor, after discovering that thousands of tickets are currently being traded illegitimately online.

In theory, it should be impossible to buy a ticket for any of the games online, other than through official channels: FIFA has emphasised that tickets cannot be sold, re-sold, donated or transferred without its prior written permission – and a ticket that has been passed on without FIFA consent will not be considered legitimate and its holder may be denied access to the stadium on match day. 

But MarkMonitor has been tracking the situation since mid-February, using proprietary search technology which is able to detect specified sites, and has found that more than 8,000 tickets are currently being traded online, some for thousands of pounds – and numbers are rising. 

Charlie Abrahams (pictured below), VP EMEA of MarkMonitor,said: "We are not saying that they are all scam tickets – but unless FIFA’s written permission is included in the sale, the tickets will not be legitimate. Among these tickets for sale, there will be some that are fake and some that are being sold illegitimately – and others that may not even exist at all.”  

FIFA has publicised its policy widely, but some buyers may still be unaware that their ticket could be illegitimate. Potentially thousands of fans could be turned away from matches at the turnstiles, having travelled across continents to be there. Abrahams added: “As all tickets for the World Cup must be collected in South Africa, it’s very likely that a number of fans will travel to the matches, only to be disappointed. With this in mind, any website that is not authorised by FIFA offering tickets must be under suspicion.

“But with over 8,000 tickets for sale online, we must deduce that someone out there is not using common sense and is buying from unauthorised sources. The only way buyers can be sure they have a valid ticket is to buy it through the official FIFA channels or from one of their authorised outlets.”


He said the situation illustrates how both the general public and big brands still need to be vigilant against cybercrime: “Given the difficulty in identifying Internet criminals and of bringing them to justice, it is futile to hope that any government body can take action to reduce the impact of online crime.”

Meanwhile, cybercrime trends show no sign of abating. MarkMonitor’s Year in Review Brandjacking Index measured the effect of online threats to brands throughout last year. Findings include:  

• It is estimated by Law.com that more than 95 per cent of Tiffany jewellery sold via online auctions is fake.
• A Columbia University study showed that just 11 per cent of online pharmacies were selling legitimate products.
• Phish attacks reached a new record high in 2009 with 565,502 attacks, increasing 62 per cent from 2008.

Abrahams added: “The onus is therefore on the brand owners to protect their own names, reputations and profits by using the latest technology to fight the problem. MarkMonitor recommends a holistic solution which fights all types of cybercrime from selling counterfeit goods to cyber-squatting and phishing.”