It's about child pornography, pedophilia, cyber pornography and exhibitionism. You will be asked to send a justification via email. Do not answer and ignore this letter, recommends our cooperation partner Watchlist Internet . It's fake!

Fake email in the name of the Vienna police
Screenshot: Fake email in the name of the Vienna Police

What is in the fake email?

The recipient appears to be “DGP Federal Police” with the email address “office.federal.police.criminelle@gmail.com”. You are accused of a crime. Everything else can be found in an attached PDF document.

The PDF is a written accusation against you - allegedly from Gerhard Pürstl, Director General of the Vienna Police, himself. He accuses you of child pornography, pedophilia, cyber pornography and exhibitionism. You allegedly consumed images and videos containing child pornography and exhibitionist content and distributed them on the Internet. You will be asked to contact us via email with a justification. If you do not respond within 48 hours, a warrant will be issued for your arrest.

The exact wording

The exact wording is as follows:

For your attention:

I am Mr. Gerhard Pürstl, Director General of the Vienna Police, Chief Inspector, Head of the Youth Protection Department.

I am contacting you shortly after a computer seizure, cyber infiltration (Allowed, especially in relation to child pornography, pedophilia, cyber pornography, exhibitionism, sex trafficking since (2009)). We take legal action against you shortly after a cyber infiltration for: child pornography, pedophilia, cyber pornography and exhibitionism.
For your information, the legislature has declared that in cases where the crimes and offenses provided for in the Criminal Code are committed using a telecommunications network, the criminal penalties provided for will be increased.

After an investigation, we confirm that you have committed these crimes, that is, the acquisition, possession, display, transmission and access via the Internet of images and videos with exhibitionist or child pornographic content (advertising sites, sites with pornographic content, dating sites, social networks). During the investigation, we also observed that you were distributing obscene content on high-traffic websites or networks where there are many 16-year-olds.

Displaying nudity in this manner constitutes a crime of sexual exposure to the public and to minors under 16 years of age. This offense is severely punished under the law. Historical images, nude videos of you and minors recorded through cyber infiltration constitute evidence of your crimes. You are requested to come forward via email by writing your justifications so that they can be checked and verified to assess the sanctions; this must be done within a strict deadline of 48 hours. After this period, we must forward our report to the court in your area so that an arrest warrant can be issued against you. They are then recorded on the National Sex Offenders Registry (NDSR). In this case, your file will also be forwarded to associations fighting pedophilia and to the media for publication as a person registered in the NDSR.

Screenshot: Fake email in the name of the police.

The fake email is sent randomly to countless email addresses. The logos of the police and police crime prevention make the letter seem genuine and intimidating at first.

Do I have to answer?

​​​​​​No, don't answer under any circumstances. This fake email does not come from the police, but from criminals. When you respond, you confirm your email address to the criminals! They also subsequently demand a large amount of money.

How do I know it's a scam?

  • Sender email address: Look closely at the email address. In this case, a gmail.com address. This is not an official police email address.
  • Missing salutation: If there is no salutation and you are only addressed with a “Hello” or “Dear Madam, Dear Sir”, you can assume that the letter was sent en masse to countless people.
  • No specific description of the crime: You are accused of a crime. But what exactly it is is not explained - i.e. when, what, where was consumed or shared.
  • Time pressure and numerous threats: Writing creates pressure to respond immediately. If you do not respond within 48 hours, a warrant will allegedly be issued for your arrest. You will also be recorded in the “National Sex Offenders Register (NDSR)” and your file will be forwarded to the media for publication.
  • Punishment without a hearing: You will be punished without a hearing or personal testimony. This is not an official procedure!

Protect yourself from fraudulent emails

You cannot prevent receiving fake emails. But you can do this:

  • Move emails to your spam folder and report them to the Internet Watchlist .
  • Do not open attachments from unknown email addresses. These could contain malware.
  • Virustotal before opening . You can find instructions .
  • If in doubt, you can always call and ask whether the email actually comes from the organization listed. You can also search on the Internet. Often you will already find warnings.

I responded, submitted documents or paid money

  • Ignore further emails and stop responding. Remember that criminals will send you more fake emails in the future. Be careful!
  • Report it to the police . This is necessary because criminals may commit crimes on your behalf and you will be held responsible for them.
  • If you experience financial loss, contact your bank and ask if the money can be recovered. However, the chances of success are rather poor.

Source: Watchlist Internet

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