Malicious e-mails and phishing scams are deliberately designed to exploit sporting fans, according to Websense Inc. country manager Joel Camissar.

"[Their] techniques are designed to lure people after tickets, merchandise or other memorabilia into their scams...we're already seeing the World Cup being used as a vehicle by online fraudsters," he said.

It is a slight change in online threats from the usual money-driven scams, run by highly organized criminals.

"A recent e-mail scam in Japan, run by the Russian Mafia, offered access to premium World Cup tickets for A$10 (US$7.42) via a Web site. It was a hugely successful phishing scam that trapped a lot of people," Camissar said.

He also warned of another World Cup e-mail scam that offers a wall chart of the event which, when executed, infects the user with a Trojan. To minimize risk, Camissar recommends individuals ensure they run the latest anti-virus signatures, update firewalls, anti-spyware programs and install recent operating system patches.