Football, entertainment, and travel-related scams: prevalence and vulnerability
The USA
February 2026
Content
2
Methodology
Survey target group
18-64 years old residents of the USA
Sampling
National representative sample among internet users �Quotas on age, gender, and place of residence
Contacts
Syno International panel
Sample size
1000 respondents
Fieldwork
February 2-10, 2026
Key takeaways: online scams
4
Overall online scam prevalence and financial loses: 28% of US internet users encountered a football, entertainment, or travel-related online scam, with 9% reporting financial losses.
Online scam focus: Scams related to entertainment are more common than those related to soccer or travel.
Football Scam Tactics: Primary tactics include offering betting tips and requesting fraudulent upfront payments.
Entertainment Scam Tactics: Fake concert or event tickets are the most prevalent entertainment-related scam.
Travel Scam Tactics: Misleading travel packages, phishing, and fake accommodation reservations are common.
Main Contact Channels: Social media and messaging apps, particularly Facebook and TikTok, are the primary ways scams reach audiences.
Loss Amounts: Typical losses for soccer scams average between US$101 and US$150.
Vulnerability Context: Falling victim to online scams is common when frustrated or stressed during weekday evenings and during time off.
Illegal Streaming Risk: 33% of internet users watched soccer illegally, and most perceive those channels as safe.
Protection Gap: Two-factor authentication is acknowledged as being effective against scams, but over half of internet users have not adopted it.
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Scam prevalence
Soccer-related scams are less common in the USA compared to other types of online scams.
% from all respondents
Prevalence of online scams in 2024-2025
28%
encountered a football, or entertainment, or travel-related online scam
Which of these scams have you personally encountered ONLINE over the course of 2024 and 2025?
02
Soccer-related scams
Primary tactics used in soccer-related scams include offering betting tips and requesting fraudulent upfront payments.
% from those who encountered a soccer-related scam, n=106
Soccer-related online scams in 2024-2025
What soccer-related scams did you encounter online?
What types of betting scams related to football have you encountered online?
11%
of internet users encountered football-related online scams in 2024-2025
Soccer-related scams primarily reach audiences through social media and messaging apps.
The main platforms include Facebook, TikTok, and Telegram.
% from those who encountered a soccer-related scam, n=106
Contact channels
How or where did you come into contact with these soccer-related scams?
Four percent of respondents reported losing money due to soccer-related scams, with the typical loss ranging from $101 to $150.
% from those who lost money to soccer-related scams, n=39
Financial losses and scam frequency in 2024-2025
4%
of internet users lost money to football-related online scams
Individuals who have experienced financial losses in 2024-2025 have, on average, lost between
US$101 and US$150.
How many times have you encountered football-related scams online?
During the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, 9% of internet users encountered scams related to soccer.
Betting and the sale of fake match tickets were the most common types of scams.
% from all respondents
% from those who encountered scams, n=86
Online scams related to FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022
28%
of internet users followed World Cup Qatar 2022
9%
of internet users encountered a football-related online scams while following World Cup Qatar 2022.
What soccer-related ONLINE scams did you encounter while following the FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar?
Individuals who experienced financial losses in 2022 typically lost US$50 (22%), US$101 - US$150 (22%), and US$151 - US$200 (22%).
Less than one-third of US internet users plan to follow the FIFA World Cup.
% from all respondents
The popularity of football
28%
Are you going to watch or follow the upcoming FIFA World Cup 2026?
03
Entertainment-related scams
Fake concert or event tickets are the most prevalent type of entertainment-related scams in the USA.
% from those who encountered an entertainment-related scam, n=165
Entertainment-related online scams in 2024-2025
What scams related to concerts or entertainment events did you encounter online?
17%
of internet users encountered entertainment-related online scams in 2024-2025
Entertainment-related scams primarily reach audiences through social media and messaging apps, with Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger being the main platforms.
% from those who encountered an entertainment-related scam, n=165
Contact channels
How or where did you come into contact with these scams related to concerts or entertainment?
4% of respondents reported losing money to entertainment related scams, with one third of victims losing between US$51 and US$100, while another third lost US$101 - US$150.
Additionally, most individuals reported experiencing multiple scam attempts.
% from those who lost money to entertainment-related scams, n=44
Financial losses and scam frequency in 2024-2025
How many times have you encountered football-related scams online?
4%
of internet users lost money to entertainment-related online scams
Among those who experienced financial losses, one-third lost between
US$51 and US$100,
while another third lost between US$101 and US$150
in 2024-2025.
04
Traveling-related scams
Misleading travel packages, phishing schemes, and fake accommodation reservations appear to be more common than other travel scams.
% from those who encountered a travel-related scam, n=142
Travel-related online scams in 2024-2025
What scams related to concerts or entertainment events did you encounter online?
14%
of internet users encountered travel-related online scams in 2024-2025
Travel-related scams primarily target audiences through social media, especially on Facebook and Messenger.
% from those who encountered an travel-related scam, n=142
Contact channels
How or where did you come into contact with these travel-related scams?
Three percent of respondents reported losing money to travel-related scams, with typical losses of US$101 - US$150. Most of these individuals also reported multiple attempts at scams.
% from those who lost money to travel-related scams, n=29
Financial losses and scam frequency in 2024-2025
3%
of internet users lost money to football-related online scams
How many times have you encountered football-related scams online?
Individuals who have experienced financial losses during 2024-2025 have, on average, lost between
US$101 and US$150.
In total, 9% of respondents reported suffering financial losses due to scams related to football, entertainment, or travel.
Summary
| Football-related | Entertainment- related | Travel-related |
Most salient topic | Betting related Upfront payment promotions | Fake concert or event tickets | Misleading travel packages Phishing attempts Fake accommodation reservations |
Contact channels | Facebook, TikTok | ||
Share of victims | 11% | 17% | 14% |
Amount of typical monetary losses | US$101-150 | US$51-101 US$101-150 | US$101-150 |
9%
of internet users lost money to any scam (football, entertainment, or travel).
Scams related to entertainment are more common than those related to soccer or travel.
28%
encountered a football, entertainment, or travel-related online scam.
05
Vulnerability to scams
The most common context for falling victim to scammers is being frustrated or stressed during weekday evenings, during the time off.
% from those who lost money to any scam (football, entertainment, or travel), n=86
Risk factors to lose money
What was your emotional state at the time you received the scam offer that later caused you to lose money?
What circumstances were you in when you fell for the scam?
One-third of internet users have watched soccer on at least one potentially illegal streaming source.
The majority of them believe illegal channels are relatively secure.
% from all respondents
% from those who used that channel to watch football
Safe
(completely
and somewhat)
Completely safe
48% 96%
31% 82%
20% 74%
19% 72%
35% 75%
34% 81%
Perceived safety of illegal channels
33%
of internet users
watched football on any illegal channel in 2024-2025
Where did you watch soccer matches in the course of 2024 and 2025?
Portrait of a viewer of illegal channels
18-34y
Higher income
Employed persons
How safe do you believe watching soccer on following channels is when it comes to online threats?
06
Measures of protection against online scams
While common scam prevention behaviors like avoiding suspicious links and unknown callers are well-known, proactive actions such as checking website security and verifying sender identities are often overlooked.
% from all respondents
Full statements:
*Use secure payment methods (such as credit cards or payment platforms that provide fraud protection, like PayPal)
*Avoid deals that sound too good to be true (such as claims of unexpected winnings, extremely low prices, or offers that require immediate action)
*Regularly check my bank and credit card statements for unauthorized transactions
*Remain cautious about requests for personal information, money, or passwords
*Educate myself about online scams and the protective measures I can take
Behavioral protection measures
What do you do to protect yourself against online scams?
2FA is regarded as the most effective tool against online scams; however, more than half of internet users have yet to adopt it.
While VPNs are considered effective for online security, their usage remains low.
% from all respondents
% from those who use that tool
Most effective from scams
88%
of internet users use at least one cybersecurity tool
Which cybersecurity tools do you use on your personal devices?
Technological protection measures
07
VPN for watching football
31% of soccer fans use a VPN to stream matches from other countries.
26% use it frequently.
% from soccerl fans, n=282
VPN usage for streaming football from other countries
How often do you use a VPN connection to stream soccer matches from other countries?
Use a VPN for soccer
Intensity of VPN usage for soccerl streaming
Thank you!
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