FIFA warns World Cup fans of 'almost perfect' forged tickets

FIFA warns World Cup fans of 'almost perfect' forged tickets
(Image credit: Scott Barbour/Getty Images)

FIFA is warning fans attending the World Cup in Brazil of high-quality forged tickets that look nearly identical to their authentic counterparts. An organization official said roughly 50 people were turned away at yesterday's tournament-opening game between Brazil and Croatia because their tickets were bogus.

At a press conference, Marketing Chief Thierry Weil compared a real ticket and a forged one, noting that the only way to tell them apart was the absence of a microchip that's scanned at the stadium's gates. "Only when fans arrived at the stadium yesterday did they realize they were fakes because the chip in them did not work and they were unable to gain access to the ground," he said. "The forgeries are almost perfect."

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Jordan Valinsky is the lead writer for Speed Reads. Before joining The Week, he wrote for New York Observer's tech blog, Betabeat, and tracked the intersection between popular culture and the internet for The Daily Dot. He graduated with a degree in online journalism from Ohio University.