Judiciary warns officials of fake calls in a judicial figure’s name

BAGHDAD — Someone has been impersonating a judicial figure in calls and messages to government and political officials over the past few days, Iraq’s Supreme Judicial Council said Friday.

The council’s media center said in a statement that the calls and messages were not genuine and that a search was underway for the person making them. It did not name the judicial figure or the officials who were contacted, and it did not say what the caller had asked for.

The council urged caution and told recipients not to act on any call or message attributed to the judicial figure until they had verified it.

The council issued a similar warning in January, saying people were impersonating staff in the office of council President Faiq Zaidan to approach political and executive officials for personal gain.

In August, the Najaf Criminal Court, which handles integrity cases, convicted a man of posing as a member of Zaidan’s office and of the prime minister’s Central Anti-Corruption Committee to extort senior officials in Najaf. It passed three sentences of six years each. The council said he had used the false identity to demand money, telling his targets he could have proceedings against them canceled.

Such schemes have followed the anti-corruption campaign that has run since the arrest of former Deputy Oil Minister Adnan al-Jumaili in May. On July 3, the judge investigating Jumaili warned that people were falsely telling business owners their names had come up in the inquiry. In mid-July, the Federal Commission of Integrity warned that people were posing as its staff to extort officials and businesses.

In July 2025, the National Security Service, Iraq’s domestic security service, arrested two people accused of impersonating advisers to the prime minister. Authorities said the pair took money from members of the Yazidi community in exchange for fake military recruitment offers.