World Cup Crypto Scams Rise; SEC Seeks Tokenized Stock Rule

TRM Labs reported that crypto scammers are using World Cup demand to sell fake tickets, promote fixed-match betting schemes and push event-themed crypto promotions tied to a small set of crypto addresses. The company identified two fake-ticketing sites and a betting pitch linked to a handful of addresses.

Ari Redbord, TRM Labs’ global head of policy, warned that “criminals always look to exploit major events and cultural moments and they don’t wait until kickoff,” noting fraud operations are often built weeks before events and scaled when attention peaks.

The 2026 FIFA World Cup opened Thursday. FIFA expects about 6.5 million attendees and has forecast roughly $40.9 billion in global GDP impact from the tournament, concentrating demand for tickets, travel and betting services.

Federal authorities had flagged related risks in May when the FBI reported threat actors were spoofing tournament websites to collect personal data and sell counterfeit tickets. TRM said its findings show active crypto campaigns that use event-focused traffic and search queries to lure victims into fraudulent purchases or betting schemes.

Separately, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission proposed rescinding two national market system rules: the trade-through prohibition that prevents an order from executing at a worse price than available on another venue, and a restriction that bars exchanges from displaying bids at the same or higher price than elsewhere. The SEC has opened a 60-day public comment period and said it may replace the rules with a best-execution framework focused on brokers’ duties.

Alex Thorn, head of research at Galaxy Digital, described the proposal as “one of the biggest unlocks yet for tokenized stocks.” He noted that under current rules crypto automated market makers would frequently commit trade-throughs, a pattern that could make them an illegal trading center under existing law.

In Congress, Representatives Lance Gooden and Josh Gottheimer introduced legislation to create a Department of Justice-led task force to coordinate investigations of cryptocurrency theft, scams and other digital-asset crimes across federal, state and local law enforcement. The bill would designate the Justice Department as the primary federal coordinator and bring together agencies including the FBI, Homeland Security Investigations and the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. The task force would develop practices for evidence collection, blockchain forensics, asset tracing and victim support, and provide training and technical assistance to state and local law enforcement.

Lawmakers pointed to the scale of crypto losses in recent years: the FBI’s 2025 Internet Crime Report recorded more than $11 billion in reported crypto-related losses in the previous year.

The TRM report, the SEC proposal and the congressional bill were published as the World Cup began, placing event-related fraud warnings alongside regulatory and legislative developments affecting tokenized securities and crypto crime enforcement.