Arizona, Nevada, and Hawaii are the three states with the highest fraud loss rates in 2025, according to reports cited by American media. A wave of scams is escalating — particularly during the 2026 World Cup season, when fake tickets and counterfeit websites are proliferating.
To avoid being scammed when buying tickets or conducting online transactions, consumers should purchase through official channels such as FIFA.com, StubHub, or Ticketmaster — platforms that guarantee refunds if tickets are invalid. Avoid listings with unusually low prices, and verify that the website address begins with HTTPS and displays a padlock icon.
If you have been scammed: call your bank immediately to dispute the charge, report it to your local law enforcement and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), monitor your account, and freeze your credit to prevent further damage.
Paying through Venmo or Cash App offers no dispute protection — a small mistake can result in losing money with no way to recover it.
Analysis
Online fraud in the United States is not a new phenomenon — but the 2026 World Cup event taking place on American soil creates a massive window of opportunity for cybercriminals. Arizona, Nevada, and Hawaii lead the list of losses in 2025; this is no coincidence. All three states have high immigration population rates, large communities where English is a second language, and lower-than-average familiarity with the American credit system — factors that organized fraud networks exploit thoroughly.
The World Cup fraud pattern is not new: the 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cups both witnessed large-scale counterfeit ticket waves. This time, the legitimate resale market has matured — StubHub and Ticketmaster both have verification mechanisms — but scammers have also become more sophisticated, using AI (Artificial Intelligence) to create fake websites identical to official pages.
What deserves attention is that the recovery process after being scammed remains quite cumbersome: the FTC receives reports but rarely handles individual small cases. The most effective measure remains prevention — particularly paying with credit cards rather than Venmo or Cash App, which lack equivalent dispute protection.
Diaspora Impact
Two groups within the Vietnamese American community are particularly vulnerable to this wave of fraud.
First, elderly first-generation refugee seniors in communities with large Vietnamese populations in Houston, Orange County, and San Jose — many still conduct transactions through Zelle, Venmo, or Cash App due to their remittance transfer habits, while these apps lack the dispute protection mechanisms that credit cards offer to buyers. Scammers target this group in Vietnamese, impersonating acquaintances selling discounted World Cup tickets.
Second, Vietnamese-origin nail salon owners and small business operators in Arizona and Nevada — the two states ranking among the highest loss states in 2025 — often handle business transactions through personal phones, increasing the risk of phishing attacks when receiving orders or payments from unfamiliar customers.