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Scammers posing as the law

Scammers aim to make you act quickly without thinking first and play on your fear of the law. 

Court subpoenas and fines are emailed by scammers posing as members of the law such as Courts, Federal or State Police. 

The emails are malicious and may infect computers with a simple click when opening the attachment. 

Even though these emails look legitimate and may contain Police or Court branding, they are fake and come from non-government email addresses. 

Neither the Federal Court, Federal Circuit Court nor Federal Police issue subpoenas in such an informal way. 

Telephone the issuing law enforcement agency or court on the number you source from telephone directories - not from the email - if in any doubt. 

If you get an email which looks like a fine or subpoena we suggest you follow these tips:

  • Do not open it. 
  • Do not click on any links.
  • Delete it.
  • Check your virus scanner is up to date and run a virus scan on your PC. 

Any person who is concerned they may have responded to one of these emails, or clicked on the links, should report it through the Australian Cyber Security Centre.

The scammers regularly change their emails slightly to see if they can trick people into believing their latest attempt is legitimate. 

Here is the example of the Federal Circuit Court email that does not contain a specific addressee which often indicates an email is fake. 

scamemail