Treat an unexpected email threatening extradition or accusing you of cybercrime as unverified. Don’t click its links, open attachments, pay, or send personal information. Instead, find the relevant agency’s official contact details independently and ask whether the message and case reference are genuine. A convincing logo, display name, or email address is not proof of authenticity.
Why an extradition or cybercrime threat may be a scam
Scammers may impersonate foreign law-enforcement agencies or U.S.-based foreign diplomatic officials and threaten extradition or cancellation of a home-country passport. The FBI has warned about these tactics in its September 17, 2026 public service announcement. A frightening allegation or urgent deadline is not evidence that a case exists.
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The FBI says impersonators use threats, urgency, secrecy, and demands for payment or personally identifying information. Requests to pay by prepaid card, cryptocurrency, courier, or wire transfer are especially strong warning signs, according to its 2022 impersonation warning.
What to check—and what cannot prove an email is real
Check the sender and links without using them
Look at the full sender address and the displayed destination of any link; scammers may use subtly altered addresses and URLs or spoof an agency identity. But a familiar-looking address, official-sounding name, polished layout, or realistic website cannot authenticate a message. The FBI explains that spoofed identities and convincing fake sites are common in its spoofing and phishing guidance. Do not click a suspicious link to test it.
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Do not treat one visual clue as a verdict
Misspellings or an odd sender address can be warning signs, but their absence does not make a message genuine. The useful test is independent confirmation from the agency that supposedly sent it.
How to verify the claimed agency and case safely
- Stop interacting with the message. Do not reply, click links, download attachments, provide identity or account details, or pay while the claim is unverified.
- Find the agency’s public contact information independently. Navigate to its official website yourself or use contact details from a trusted official source. Do not use a phone number, reply address, or link supplied in the suspicious email.
- Ask the agency to verify the message and reference. Provide the claimed sender and case reference through the independently found channel, and ask whether both are genuine. Contact the agency in the jurisdiction named in the message; procedures and contact channels vary by country.
Rules can differ by agency. Europol says it does not contact citizens directly, issue fines, accept payments, or discuss ongoing investigations; that warning applies specifically to messages claiming to be from Europol. See Europol’s guidance on fake correspondence, updated July 29, 2024. Do not assume the same exact rule applies to every national or local authority—verify other claims with the named agency through an official public channel.
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What to do if you already replied, shared details, or paid
- If you sent money or payment details: Stop communicating with the sender and promptly contact your financial institution to protect your accounts and discuss the transaction.
- If you shared passwords or account information: Go to the genuine service website independently, secure the affected accounts, and review account access.
- Keep evidence: Preserve the original email, available headers, messages, URLs, and transaction records. Keep suspicious attachments without opening them.
- Report the incident: Contact local law enforcement and the relevant national reporting service. The FBI directs U.S. victims to the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3); Europol advises reporting purported Europol correspondence to local or national police.
How common are these impersonation reports?
For January 2025 through July 2026, IC3 received nearly 61,000 complaints involving law-enforcement or government impersonation scams, with more than $1.6 billion in reported losses. Within that total, 1,809 complaints involved threats from impersonators posing as foreign law enforcement or U.S.-based foreign diplomatic officials, with reported losses exceeding $140 million. These are complaints and losses reported to IC3 for that period—not a count of all incidents or a victimization rate.
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