With the 2026 FIFA World Cup just around the corner, officials are warning fans to be cautious when buying tickets online to avoid scams and ensure they get what they pay for.
FIFA World Cup soccer ball is seen on a FIFA x NFL chair in the Media Center on Feb. 4, 2026 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco.
So how can you spot a scam when buying a World Cup ticket, or just make sure you get what you pay for? Keep reading to learn what officials recommend about buying World Cup tickets online and what to do if you already bought a ticket on the official FIFA site but feel that the seat you were assigned does not match what you originally paid for.
First off: If you’re feeling confused over what a World Cup ticket actually costs, that’s understandable, Santa Clara County Assistant District Attorney James Gibbons-Shapiro said. The 2026 FIFA World Cup winner’s trophy is seen on stage at the Global Citizen NOW event in New York City on May 14, 2026. Scammers often promise you “a better deal” if you make the payment using instant payment sites like Zelle, Venmo and Cash App.
But fraudsters aren’t trying to save you money with this suggestion: They’re trying to make it easier for themselves to keep your money. Talking to strangers on a resale or payments site that’s not verified puts you at greater risk of getting ripped off, Gibbons-Shapiro said.
“The criminal is simply looking for someone desperate enough to go to the World Cup that they’re willing to send a lot of money right away to a total stranger,” he said. In other words, he said: “It’s not that the country that you are supporting is going to lose — it’s going to be you that loses. ”Scammers have become incredibly good at printing fake tickets that look highly realistic, Gibbons-Shapiro said.
So much so, he said, that when sports fans ask him for advice on how to spot a fake ticket, he tells them that he doesn’t have any tips that reliably work — that’s how identical the scam tickets can physically appear. The real pro tip here, Gibbons-Shapiro said, is “don’t go to the stadium to try to buy a ticket there. ” “Because the great likelihood is that you’re buying a fake ticket,” he said.
“You’re not gonna be able to get in, and you’re going to lose all your money. ” That’s why it’s important to buy your ticket on a third-party ticket resale site that will deliver the ticket directly to you.
Footballs and jerseys are displayed during the opening day of the official 2026 FIFA World Cup merchandising store in Miami Beach, Florida, on May 18, 2026Platforms like WhatsApp or Facebook Marketplace usually will not verify if what’s being offered is what’s actually sold. And even if you’re using reliable third-party sites like SeatGeek or TicketMaster, check the reseller’s refund policy to see whether they offer a guarantee regarding the authenticity and timely arrival of the tickets.
First of all, make sure to document all your communication with the person who promised to sell you a ticket — and take screenshots of those messages in case they attempt to delete anything from their end of the conversation. You can then report the situation to your local police department, as the city where you live is defined as where the crime took place. Contact the police department of the city where the transaction took place.
“If that happened right outside the stadium, that would be Santa Clara Police Department,” Gibbons-Shapiro said. Gibbons-Shapiro said his office is ready to prosecute anyone who tricks others into buying fake World Cup tickets, adding that he would consider that to be a felony.
“We have robust teams for consumer protection and theft enforcement,” he said. “We’re going to prosecute the scammers. ” I bought a ticket on the FIFA website, and I think I got seated in a different place than what I paid for. If you bought your ticket from the online FIFA purchasing portal during the initial sales phase last October, Attorney General Bonta recommends that you keep a record of everything from that purchase.
This could include, he said, “images of the map they were shown and the original receipt for the ticket that they purchased and what it says, and the existing ticket that they have. ” Bonta told KQED his office is still investigating what happened during this initial ticketing phase and hopes that FIFA provides the information he has requested by the May 29 deadline.
“And if they don’t, we can ratchet up the level of severity here,” he said. California Attorney General Rob Bonta speaks at a news conference in front of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco on Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024.
throughout the summer; for now,has your music picks for this week. Tuesday, rising UK pop star Rose Gray is at Pacific Electric, Skylar Grey is at the Grammy Museum, Ty Segall plays Venice West, and Australian folk-rockers the Paper Kites are at the Wiltern.
Wednesday, Argentina’s Los Fabulosos Cadillacs plays the Peacock Theater, Spanish singer-songwriter Leire plays the Belasco, and Ivy — the reunited indie-pop band Ivy founded by the late, great Adam Schlesinger — plays the Teragram. Irish indie-folk artist Dove Ellis also plays the first of his two nights at Hollywood Forever Cemetery. Gen Xers will delight in Thursday’s lineup, as Digital Underground brings the Humpty Dance to the Regent and Fun Lovin’ Criminals plays the Troubadour.
Plus,At 93, Yoko Ono finally gets her first L.A. solo show, one that explores the artist’s once-in-a-generation take on protest, peace, humanity and feminism. It’s all done with heart and humor, making the show extremely accessible for visitors of all ages. There are numerous interactive elements and video installations.
Plus, there are moments from her entire life and practice, from her early years in Japan, through the Beatles era, and her impactful work in the decades since. Her instructions for art are instructions for life; my instruction to you is: Go see this show. You don’t have to remind us that L.A. is one of the top food cities in the world — and always has been.
Artist Gary Baseman takes it to the next level with an exhibit at Johnie’s Coffee Shop, featuring menus from historic L.A. restaurants that he’s drawn on over the years. Jellyfish are mesmerizing, with their look-but-don’t-touch gentleness and mysteriousness in the open sea. The Aquarium of the Pacific just openedYou won’t feel kind of blue at the Miles Davis birthday bash at 2220 Arts + Archives.
The jazz master would be 100 this week, and a full lineup of “eclectic, electric” local artists are ready to celebrate. Focused on Davis’s"Big Fun" period, the event features DJs, video projections and more — in addition to all the jazz, of course.podcast comes to the Wiltern for a live taping this week.
Expect special guests and some real talk about where the markets are, how the news influences them and what it means for you and your money.gets a fresh look from East West Players at this world premiere show, featuring a cast entirely of Asian descent and a rewrite from Tony winner David Henry Hwang. Hwang first adaptedat the Taper back in 2001 and is revisiting it in this new version, which aims to reclaim stereotypes set forth in the original and enliven the story about Chinese immigrants in 1950s San Francisco for a modern audience.
Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead: The Story of the National Lampoon ) explores the life and work of conductor and composer Leonard Bernstein. Using his 1989 Christmas Day concert in Berlin as a framework, the film explores his life through interviews, news footage, home movies, audio clips and personal letters. It’s on at the Laemmle Royal, Glendale and Town Center 5. If you're enjoying this article, you'll love our daily newsletter, The LA Report.
Each weekday, catch up on the 5 most pressing stories to start your morning in 3 minutes or less. California’s first-in-the-nation fast food council — created to give workers a voice on wages, safety and working conditions — has not met in over a year and has no chairperson. The council was created as part of a 2023 compromise that also set a $20 minimum wage for fast food workers.
It has the power to set standards on wages, health, safety and working conditions — and to raise the minimum wage annually for hundreds of thousands of fast food workers at chains with 60 or more locations nationwide. On April 16, marking about two years since the council’s first meeting, workers delivered a 96-page book to the governor’s office, describing more than 100 complaints filed with CalOSHA, the state labor department and different city agencies since the council’s formation, alleging wage theft and poor working conditions.
California’s first-in-the-nation fast food council — created to give workers a voice on wages, safety and working conditions — has not met in over a year and has no chairperson. Now the workers the council was built to protect, organized by the Service Employees International Union, are taking their concerns directly to the state, demanding that Gov. Gavin Newsom appoint a chairperson so the council can do its work, as required by law.
Luna Mondragon, who works at a Carl’s Jr. in Milpitas, told CalMatters through a translator that she started out as a cook but has done many other duties in her five years there. After she joined the fast food workers union, she said she began speaking up, especially when she started to experience aches and pains from her job. Since then, she said she has been retaliated against, including with fewer shifts.
“If we don’t have our health we can’t accomplish anything,” she said, her voice choked with emotion. “It’s so important for them to appoint a chair. We need the council. ” The council was created as part of a 2023 compromise that also set a $20 minimum wage for fast food workers.
It has the power to set standards on wages, health, safety and working conditions — and to raise the minimum wage annually for hundreds of thousands of fast food workers at chains with 60 or more locations nationwide. The council — composed of four members representing the businesses, four members representing labor and a chairperson who’s an “unaffiliated” member of the public — must,The council only held those meetings in 2024; last year it held two subcommittee meetings, the latest in February 2025.
Shortly after, the council’s chairperson, Nick Hardeman, resigned when Newsom appointed him to a different state position. When reached by CalMatters, Hardeman said he did not want to speak on the record about a council he has not chaired in a while. In 2022, the Legislature raised fast food workers’ minimum wage to $22 an hour. The industry fought back, gathering signatures to repeal the law.
Workers across the state went on strike. In late 2023, the SEIU and the industry reached a last-minute compromise: Workers dropped a ballot fight in exchange for a $20 minimum wage andthe following year — lacking the collective bargaining rights of a traditional union but acting as an advocacy and membership group for workers. Tara Gallegos, a spokesperson for the governor, would not answer questions about the council, instead referring CalMatters to the state’s Labor & Workforce Development Agency.
Crystal Young, a spokesperson for the agency, confirmed that there is no chairperson and the council’s meetings are on hold. The council’s four-person staff continues to respond to inquiries and prepare for future meetings, she said.
On April 16, marking about two years since the council’s first meeting, workers delivered a 96-page book to the governor’s office, describing more than 100 complaints filed with CalOSHA, the state labor department and different city agencies since the council’s formation, alleging wage theft and poor working conditions. The union estimates there are about 630,000 fast food workers in the state, about 75% of whom are people of color and 20% of whom are immigrants.
“Employers feel newly empowered to threaten us with calling ICE when we ask questions about paid sick leave or or report health and safety hazards,” Angelica Hernandez, a McDonald’s worker who is a member of the fast food council, said in the book. Rich Reinis, a member of the council who represents employers and is a former franchise owner, said he has no knowledge of when meetings will resume and is waiting.
In his view, the council should have been discussing “fire and ICE. ” The phrase refers to the effects of last year’s L.A. County fires on the fast food industry and its workers, some of whom lost their homes, and what businesses and workers need to know about immigration enforcement. Reinis also wants the council to order a study of the wage increase’s effects on prices and employment.
Competing studies bywho analyzed the competing studies concluded the debate over the wage's effects is likely to continue. Hernandez, the councilmember, rejected the industry's claims the wage increase has hurt business.
“The sky didn’t fall on the California fast food industry,” she said. The council is also required to submit a performance review to the Legislature every three years — a deadline approaching without a single full meeting in the past year. Before he resigned, Hardeman, the former chairperson,“The staff will have to write a report without having any meetings,” Reinis said.
“How the hell are we supposed to do that? ” Chris Holden, the former California assemblymember who authored the law that raised the workers’ wages and created the council, told CalMatters the council was “groundbreaking” and “needs to address the challenges that were the genesis of the council in the first place. ” He said he hopes the governor is doing his due diligence to identify a new chairperson.
“I want to tell to finish the job he started,” Julieta Garcia, a cook at a Pizza Hut in Los Angeles, told CalMatters through a translator. “Leave a good legacy for this generation and the future generation, so you can be recognized as a leader who gave fast food workers a chance. ” Young, the Labor & Workforce Development Agency spokesperson who was speaking on the governor’s behalf, confirmed that Newsom’s office received the workers’ book.
Robin Thorne, a Black engineer with her own multi-million dollar company, founded DemoChicks to break down barriers, and build hope and passion among women of color. The proportion of women in architecture, construction and engineering jobs is low, and the number of women of color even lower. This Long Beach group is narrowing the gap by exposing young women to these industries, and preparing them for jobs.
Robin Thorne founded her own company CTI Environmental nearly two decades ago yet still sees few women in the construction sector. She founded DemoChicks a few years ago to encourage women to apply for jobs and to provide scholarships to help with educational costs.at Long Beach City College on Saturday, May 30, to create the type of enthusiasm that usually surrounds young people who sign commitments to play college sports.
Nearly 20 years after founding a successful environmental and safety consulting services company, Robin Thorne said she still gets checked for being a Black woman in the construction industry.
“I've had situations where people, they don't even make eye contact, and then the male has to step back to say, 'She's running the show,'" she said. Thorne runs CTI Environmental, a multi-million dollar company that was contracted by the Army Corps of Engineers to do debris removal after the L.A. fires.
She’s been an engineer for decades and knows fewer than one of four workers in architecture, construction and engineering industries who are women — and much fewer are women of color.at Long Beach City College on Saturday, May 30. The event’s meant to create the type of excitement normally associated with young people signing up for college sports teams.
There were far fewer women in these jobs when Thorne was growing up in Philadelphia, but she didn’t let roadblocks, including those in her personal life — like being a single mom on public assistance — stop her.
“When I thought about being an engineer, I didn't think about it being male-dominated. I just knew I wanted to be an engineer,” she said. She added that some women do give up on similar dreams or fail to find the spark that allows them to see themselves doing these jobs. That’s why Thorne started DemoChicks seven years ago.
She wants young women to see her and think “engineer,” as well as connect with women who are already working in these industries. The organization is called DemoChicks because demolition is one of the jobs that keeps Thorne’s company busy.
More women are entering architecture, construction and engineering jobs than before, but the percentage of women in each industry is still low:These are mostly stable jobs with good entry-level wages, jobs such as safety coordinators, project managers, project engineers and construction managers. Beyond giving teen girls IRL examples of women in construction industry jobs, DemoChicks supports their academic efforts, which often means helping them out meet college expenses. DemoChicks gave out $1,000 scholarships to eight women last year .
One of those scholarship recipients in 2024 was Ana Terrazas. She recalled growing up in South L.A. , not as a latch key kid, but as a truck cab kid. Ana Terrazas as a teen at her mother's construction job.
Terrazas now works for a large construction company as a project engineer. ”My mother… was a truck driver,” Terrazas said, driving belly dump trailers on construction sites. Terrazas would help her mother change tires and lend a hand with any mechanical repairs. Her grandfather was a truck driver too.
“Since then I've always been obsessed with job sites, and also the superintendent, the one that would tell everybody where to go, how to do their job, and organize everything,” Terrazas said. Two years ago she was working hard to finish her two majors — civil engineering and construction management — to earn her bachelor’s degree from Cal Poly Pomona. She applied for and was awarded a $1,500 scholarship from DemoChicks. That help, she said, had a big effect.
“I didn't have to take as many hours of work to be able to focus more on my studies and also in my internship during that time,” Terrazas said. The internship, at Swinerton, a nationwide construction company that's more than 100 years old, turned into full time work as a project engineer. Terrazas paid it forward earlier this year, inviting Thorne and a dozen DemoChicks to a Swinerton work site during Women in Construction Week.
She urged the women to tap into their drive to succeed and lean on people like her for help.
“As long as they're driven and this is what they want, there shouldn't be a reason for them to not be able to get a job here,” Terrazas said.
FIFA World Cup Ticket Scams Online Sales Fake Tickets Scams Warns Fans Cautious Buying
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