Conmen using fake Saudi court order to cheat people: police

Beware of email scams impersonating government officials threatening legal action for accessing child pornography websites.

As the number of cases rise involving impersonation on phone and video calls, leading to citizens losing crores of rupees, fraudsters have now turned to emails to trick unsuspecting people.

Meanwhile, officials of the Telangana cybercrime police urged citizens not to fall for these tactics.

On Wednesday, a journalist in Hyderabad received an ‘official court order’ from the ‘Cyber Security Agency of Saudi Arabia’ claiming the victim were accessing ‘juvenile pornographic websites’. The email further warned of ‘legal action’ if the victim did not respond within 24 hours.

“By the mandate of Col. Khalid Abdullah, additional director general, ADG headquarter and cyber crime & economic offense department, conducted an analysis of your internet protocol. This analysis revealed that you have been secretly accessing juvenile pornographic websites through your office or home internet,” the email read.

The email claimed that the ministry of home affairs works closely with the special cell of Saudi Arabia police and the department’s advanced digital forensics labs are equipped to detect any access to child pornography websites, recover deleted data, and analyse various devices.

“Fraudsters are adopting new methods to con people. This tactic builds on existing impersonation and digital arrest scams where conmen posing as government officials trap unsuspecting individuals and coerce them into paying their way out of trouble. Once a victim responds, they weave the narrative of serious charges levied against them and leave them with only one option,” explained Chand Basha, Assistant Commissioner of Police, Hyderabad Cybercrimes.

This comes at a time when the Hyderabad commissionerate reported losses over ₹50 lakh in cheating by impersonation and social media frauds during 2024.