Scams, Fraud & Money Recovery
After a scam in Oman: report to Royal Oman Police via OCERT under the Cyber Crime Law (Royal Decree 12/2011), claim a refund through your bank, and escalate to the Central Bank of Oman (CBO) Consumer Complaint framework.
Covered in this guide:
Oman's scam-recovery system runs across three institutions. Royal Oman Police (ROP) with operational support from the Oman National Computer Emergency Readiness Team (OCERT) (under MTCIT) investigates cybercrime under the Cyber Crime Law (Royal Decree 12/2011) — penalties range from a fine to imprisonment up to 15 years depending on the offence. For the money side, the Central Bank of Oman (CBO) handles customer complaints against banks via its online customer-complaint form; CBO requires proof that you raised the complaint with the bank first. For labour-related scams (worker-side issues), the Ministry of Labour hotline is 80077000; worker labour suits are court-fee-exempt by Royal Decree 53/2023.
Emergency: 9999 (Royal Oman Police).
Key Laws
Cyber Crime Law (Royal Decree 12/2011)
Royal Decree 12/2011 — issued 6 February 2011, in force 16 February 2011
Oman's cybercrime statute. Penalties range from a fine to 15 years' imprisonment depending on the offence. Covers hacking, unauthorised access, electronic fraud, content crimes (publication of immoral / privacy-violating material), credit-card trespass, and information forgery.
Personal Data Protection Law (Royal Decree 6/2022, PDPL)
Royal Decree 6/2022; Executive Regulations (Ministerial Decision 34/2024)
Oman's first comprehensive data protection statute. In force 13 February 2023; Executive Regulations from 5 February 2024; fully enforceable 5 February 2026 (transition period ended). Regulator: Ministry of Transport, Communications and Information Technology (MTCIT).
Royal Decree 53/2023 (Worker labour suits court-fee-exempt)
Royal Decree 53/2023
Exempts worker labour suits from court fees in Oman — relevant where a labour-related scam (e.g. fake employer, wage theft) escalates to civil litigation.
First 24 Hours After Being Scammed
Three jobs in parallel. Call your bank's fraud line — block the account, freeze the wallet, start a recall. File the cybercrime complaint with Royal Oman Police or report to OCERT under the Cyber Crim...
Reporting Cybercrime to Royal Oman Police and OCERT
Cybercrime investigation in Oman runs through Royal Oman Police, with technical support from OCERT (Oman National CERT) under MTCIT. The statutory framework is the Cyber Crime Law (Royal Decree 12/201...
Recovering Money From an Omani Bank via CBO Consumer Complaint
Oman's money-recovery framework is two-step. Step 1: complaint to the bank. Required by CBO before any escalation. Step 2: escalation to CBO. Submit the CBO Customer Complaint Form at cbo.gov.om/pages...