Football fans seeking to watch the upcoming World Cup qualifiers involving Harambee Stars have been warned about the emergence of fake ticketing websites ahead of the games.
The Football Kenya Federation (FKF) on Thursday, September 3, raised the alert over scammers who have created fraudulent platforms posing as ticket vendors, complete with till numbers.
In its statement, the FKF clarified that tickets can only be purchased through the official Tikiti Platform, which does not require fans to manually enter a paybill number.
The warning comes amid growing anticipation for Harambee Stars’ upcoming fixtures, following the successes of the African Nations Championship (CHAN), which was co-hosted by Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda.
Kenya, in particular, earned plaudits from CAF for the overwhelming enthusiasm of fans, with nearly all games at the Moi International Sports Centre, Kasarani, seeing full-capacity crowds, including the final.
In the wake of the successful tournament and renewed interest in football, opportunistic scammers have sought to exploit unsuspecting fans.
Besides the Tikiti platform, the FKF clarified that match tickets can also be purchased offline through the USSD code *519*55#.
Kenya will return to action after several months, kicking off their campaign against Gambia on September 5 at the Moi International Sports Centre.
Four days later, Kenya will be at Kasarani Stadium once again, facing Seychelles in another afternoon match at 4pm.
Nyayo Stadium, which also hosted several CHAN matches, will host a Group F clash between The Gambia and Burundi. Notably, this game will be played under floodlights, as it has been scheduled for 10pm.
After Kenya's home fixtures, Benni McCarthy's side will round off their World Cup qualifiers group stage campaign with away games against Burundi on Monday, October 6 and Ivory Coast a week later.
By Wednesday afternoon, the sale of regular tickets for the Kenya-Gambia game, which were going for Ksh300, was officially closed, leaving silver (Ksh500), gold (Ksh1000), and VIP (Ksh2000) for fans to purchase.
