Fake World Cup Tickets on Sale for up to FORTY Times Face Value

• Warning to fans looking to get tickets
• Secondary seller sites charging up to forty times the value
• Fans will be denied entry if ticket is fake

Tickets for the upcoming football World Cup are being illicitly advertised for almost 40 times their face value on secondary seller websites.

Consumer rights group, Which? found tickets on sale from March for as much as £11,237, despite being advertised for £296 on Fifa’s website.

Fans heading to Russia risk being denied entry to matches if they show up with passes bought through a third party, Fifa has warned.

Alex Neill, managing director of home products and services at Which?, said, “Football fans need to be aware that if they buy a World Cup ticket from an unofficial source, they risk paying inflated prices and potentially not getting into the game at all.

“If you don’t want to risk watching the World Cup from the sidelines, you should only buy from the official Fifa reselling website.”

Fifa says it regards the ‘illicit sale and distribution of tickets as a very serious issue’.

What should you do if you bought a ticket from a third party?

Fans who bought tickets from unofficial sites, but have a consumer protection guarantee, should go back to the company.

Fifa said there would also be a strict admission check during the 2018 World Cup, and that a Fan ID document is needed for entry.

A spokesperson for Fifa said, “A number of unauthorised online ticket sales, offered via websites and on social media originating from various countries, have been stopped during the past months.

“Furthermore, we have taken concrete legal action against a number of platforms, while encouraging fans to to purchase tickets from unauthorised sources.”

Ticket touting, such as what’s happening with World Cup tickets, is a huge problem for making matches inaccessible to fans, as it drives prices up.

How do you know if your ticket is fake?

According to the official FIFA World Cup 2018 website, no other site or parties have rights to sell tickets for the World Cup.

If you have bought a ticket from a third party site, you are at risk of not being accepted into the stadium.

The second sales phase for tickets close on 3rd April, but fans still have the chance to get tickets on a first come first served basis, along with any fan resale tickets, which is running from 18th April until the 15th July on FIFA website.