{"id":653373,"date":"2026-06-12T15:01:43","date_gmt":"2026-06-12T13:01:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=653373"},"modified":"2026-06-12T15:07:47","modified_gmt":"2026-06-12T13:07:47","slug":"warning-to-south-africans-who-want-to-bet-on-fifa-world-cup-games","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/security\/653373-warning-to-south-africans-who-want-to-bet-on-fifa-world-cup-games.html","title":{"rendered":"Warning to South Africans who want to bet on FIFA World Cup games"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

There is an Internet-wide scam campaign set to take off amid the 2026 FIFA World Cup tournament, targeting people who want to place bets on the games online.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cybercriminals are looking to exploit South African football fans by launching spoofs of international and local betting websites to steal their money and data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to research from international cybersecurity firm Check Point Software, a sample of hundreds of Internet domains revealed that the campaign was set to take off just before the first game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the 2024\/25 financial year, South Africans wagered R1.1 trillion<\/a> in bets, accounting for the vast majority of total gambling activity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Stats SA<\/a>, online gambling services, which included digital sports betting, generated R152.6 billion in 2023 from services rendered, up sharply from R10.1 billion in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the appetite for digital sports betting grows in South Africa, partly thanks to the accessibility of highly advertised digital betting platforms, scammers are looking to exploit gamblers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Criminals have set up fake websites that look like official sportsbooks, online betting sites, and apps, staging them in advance of kick-off and an influx of football fans looking to put money down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Domains are sitting with placeholder content, Cloudflare error pages, or generic gambling themes, and are consistent with operators staging infrastructure,” Check Point said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Mobile-app impersonation has surged to approximately 60 times the non-tournament baseline compared to the same window in 2025.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Check Point’s research suggested that as soon as the FIFA World Cup begins, with the first match of South Africa versus Mexico on 11 June, these sites will launch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Cyber criminals will look to exploit local fans by spoofing both international sportsbooks and domestic favourites,” said Ian Jansen van Rensburg, security engineering head at Check Point Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sean Coleman, CEO of the South African Bookmakers’ Association (SABA), told MyBroadband that Check Point’s findings were concerning but not surprising.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Major sporting events such as the FIFA World Cup invariably attract cybercriminals who seek to exploit heightened public interest and increased online betting activity,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“For South African consumers, the most important protection is to ensure they are betting only with operators that are licensed by a South African provincial gambling regulator.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Difficulties in policing online betting scams in South Africa <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Coleman said that consumers should be particularly cautious of websites that offer unrealistic promotions, unusually large sign-up bonuses, claims of guaranteed wins or urgent calls to action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Fraudulent operators frequently use these tactics to attract unsuspecting customers,” he said, explaining why it was so difficult for entities in South Africa to police this fraudulent activity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A major challenge is that many fraudulent and illegal gambling websites are operated entirely outside South Africa’s jurisdiction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“A website can be registered anonymously in one country, hosted in another, process payments through a third jurisdiction, and target South African consumers online,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This makes enforcement significantly more complex than dealing with a locally-based operator, he said. Some of these fraudulent sites may also claim to be licensed when they aren’t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some illegal websites claim to hold licences from what Coleman called “pseudo-licensing jurisdictions” \u2014\u00a0countries like Cura\u00e7ao, Malta, or the Philippines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Legal South African betting websites and digital platforms that adhere to local regulations and are safe to use are licensed according to a provincial gambling board jurisdiction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“If you are on a website that does not show a South African licence jurisdiction or province, then you are most likely on an illegal site,” said Coleman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Coleman explained why the 2026 FIFA World Cup was the perfect environment for the rapid proliferation of fake betting sites, ensuring maximum impact with minimal investment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Criminal actors can register hundreds of lookalike domains within weeks and launch aggressive digital marketing campaigns,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“They can then shut down or migrate to new domains before enforcement measures can be implemented.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The sheer scale of the Internet and the widespread nature of such campaigns mean that disrupting the activity is the responsibility of multiple entities and requires substantial resources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Regulators, law enforcement agencies, Internet service providers, financial institutions and cybersecurity companies all have roles to play,” said Coleman.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

South Africans planning to place bets on FIFA World Cup games in 2026 should beware of fake online betting sites and apps amid a global scam campaign.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":341213,"featured_media":653583,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[104783,15227,25513,104466,105837,102144],"class_list":["post-653373","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-security","tag-check-point-software","tag-cybersecurity","tag-fifa-world-cup","tag-fifa-world-cup-2026","tag-saba","tag-sean-coleman"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/653373"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/341213"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=653373"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/653373\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":653591,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/653373\/revisions\/653591"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/653583"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=653373"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=653373"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=653373"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}