The company has identified numerous scams, phishing and malicious attachment spam related to the sporting event that starts in South Africa on June 11.

"419-scam messages stand out as major contributors and with kick-off literally around the corner, we expect all spam volumes related to the World Cup to grow," said Symantec's Samir Patil.

Online users can expect to receive many variations of spam types, with offers of fake game tickets, malware distribution via fake videos purportedly showing highlights of the games and fake FIFA product offers, he said.

Symantec has been tracking FIFA-related scams since 2005 when it was announced that the 2010 FIFA World Cup would be held in South Africa.

"We found a definite month-to-month rising trend, and compared to the World Cup spam volume in April, the data up to May 25th shows an increase of approximately 27%," Patil said.

This article was originally published by Computer Weekly