Syndicate producing counterfeit tickets

The stadium is packed, and every seat is taken. Yet, when the final whistle blows, the most shocking statistic isn’t on the scoreboard, but on the balance sheet: the revenue is paltry.

When the Football Association of Malawi (FAM) partnered with service provider Kwenda.co to launch e-ticketing, the promise was a digital revolution that would eliminate physical tickets and eradicate gate fraud. So, why has technology failed to bolster the bottom line at jam-packed venues like Kamuzu Stadium or Bingu National Stadium?

Six months undercover probe

For six months, a Weekend Nation undercover team, guided by insider whistleblowers, followed the money. Our investigation reveals a sophisticated syndicate producing and selling counterfeit physical tickets.

These forgeries don’t just mimic the originals—they are designed to bypass security checks, allowing fans to enter undetected.

Throughout half a year of undercover reporting at FAM-organised cup fixtures, our team repeatedly gained entry using these fakes, exposing a deep-seated system of theft.

IT experts argue that such scams are only possible if the perpetrators have access to the system’s security features. Because the counterfeit tickets feature valid serialisation, QR codes and holograms, all signs point to an internal compromise.

Despite this, Kwenda.co maintains its system is fool-proof and denies any internal security breaches or the possibility of fake tickets bypassing their validation process.

Case Study: FCB Nyasa Big Bullets vs. Mzuzu City Hammers (February 8, 2026)

During the Castel Challenge Cup semi-final at the 14 000-capacity Kamuzu Stadium, Kwenda.co initially supplied only 2 500 open-stand e-tickets. Although they promised to print more on-site if demand rose, they failed to do so—citing a “technical problem” even after the initial batch sold out.

Despite the official shortage, fans continued to arrive with tickets.

Security reports later revealed that counterfeit tickets were being sold at the nearby Chichiri Shopping Centre, though the vendors fled before they could be apprehended. Ultimately, the match generated only K19 million, falling significantly short of the K50 million target expected for a full house.

Case Study 2: FCB Nyasa Big Bullets vs Dedza Dynamos

During the Castel Challenge Cup final between Bullets and Dedza Dynamos on February 21 at Bingu National Stadium, Kwenda.co managed both digital and physical ticketing.

Despite this, unauthorised vendors operated openly near the venue, selling counterfeit tickets in full view of security.

Our investigators purchased four fake tickets for K4 000 each—less than half the official K10 000 price. Although these tickets were noticeably different in size, print quality, and paper stock, vendors remained confident.

“I will show you which gate to use. Just show them the ticket and they will let you in,” one vendor claimed.

Following their lead, we navigated through crowded entry points and passed three separate security checkpoints without issue.

While the stadium appeared at capacity, the final revenue was recorded at just K93 million—a figure so unexpectedly low that FAM launched an internal probe.

Case Study 3: Bullets vs. Mighty Wanderers (April 18)

Despite FAM announcement that no tickets would be sold at Bingu National Stadium for the NBS Bank Charity Shield, officials were observed selling tickets from a minibus on-site.

A known vendor, nicknamed ‘Rasta,’ claimed to have sourced his stock from both FAM employees and counterfeit printers in Mchesi.

“I have 20 original tickets identical to those sold by Kwenda.co, which I ordered from a FAM employee,” he stated. He also demonstrated how to distinguish “genuine” tickets from “fakes,” offering them for K9 000 and K7 000, respectively.

We purchased a counterfeit ticket and successfully entered the stadium without any difficulty.

System or human failure?

The mechanics of e-ticketing are straightforward: the system generates a unique QR code valid for a single entry. At the gate, scanners are designed to distinguish between valid, used, expired or counterfeit tickets.

However, recent tests revealed a troubling gap: every counterfeit ticket we scanned redirected to the kwenda.co domain and was recognised as a valid “Standard Holder” ticket.

Madalisto Muva, a technician at kwenda.co, confirmed that the QR codes on the forged tickets originated from their system.

“What I can say is that these QR codes are indeed from our system. As for the holograms, those are handled by FAM, not Kwenda,” he stated.

An IT expert consulted for this report explained that such a breach typically points to two specific vulnerabilities. “In e-ticketing, a QR code must be restricted to a single use for security. If an original ticket is duplicated, the system should reject any subsequent scans,” he noted.

Former Bullets commercial and marketing manager and curren Masters FC CEO Kevin Moyo offered further insight into the operational failures at entry points.

Moyo, who served in a task force investigating ticket fraud, argued that the problem extends beyond simple duplication.

“Usually, when we discuss fake tickets, we imagine someone buying a genuine ticket and photocopying it. In those cases, the serial numbers are identical, making them easy to detect at the gate,” Moyo explained.

However, his team observed a more systemic issue: A slow scanning process that took upwards of 60 seconds per ticket. This delay creates massive congestion, often forcing gate personnel to abandon strict verification to keep the crowds moving.

“At a football match, a scan should take less than 10 seconds. When we monitored the gates, it was taking over a minute per person. That is a major red flag,” Moyo said.

“The longer the line, the more pressure there is to bypass the system.”

Beyond the presence of fakes, Moyo’s team also discovered that the slow system frequently allowed fans to successfully reuse original tickets.

Muva ruled out any possibility of reused tickets bypassing the system. He explained that a counterfeit could only go undetected if it possessed all security features, such as holograms and was presented before the genuine ticket.

“In that scenario, the fake ticket is validated,” Muva said.

“When the holder of the original ticket arrives, the system flags it as already used. This has happened before, and in those cases, we have to turn people away.”

However, this raises a concern: if gate security is lax and scanning isn’t performed in real-time, can Kwenda.co rightfully reject fans holding genuine tickets? Muva noted that scanning is occasionally suspended for safety to prevent stampedes.

“In those moments, we physically inspect the tickets and scan them after the match, but only with permission from FAM.”

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