Supreme Court Registry Warns Against Fake Website Impersonating Official Portal

The Supreme Court of India Registry on November 3, 2026 warned litigants, advocates and other court users against scigovinjudicial.com, calling it fraudulent. The advisory said the site could be used to obtain personal information and confidential credentials. It said sci.gov.in is the only official domain.

Advocates-on-record, counsel, party-in-person litigants, clerks and law firm staff who use the website for filing and follow-up work were covered by the warning. That work includes checking case status, cause lists and orders, and seeking certified copies. Users were told to treat any other address claiming to represent the Court with caution. No specific incident of loss was mentioned.

The official address named in the advisory is short and ends with gov.in. The suspect address adds extra words and ends differently, a gap that can mislead a busy user at first glance. The Registry asked users to read the full address in the browser bar before entering any detail. A familiar page design or logo alone is not proof.

Supreme Court of India clarifies official domain

According to the advisory, sci.gov.in remains the only official registered domain for the Court. Any other site that suggests it is the judicial portal should be treated as suspect. The Registry described scigovinjudicial.com as a newly detected phishing domain that may harvest personal information and confidential credentials.

No action against any named operator was announced. The short preventive note did not explain how the suspect domain was detected. It did not say whether the domain is still active, or whether a complaint has gone to law enforcement or the domain registration agency. It placed on record which address is genuine and which is not.

Much of the Court's daily work now runs through the website. Petitions and applications are filed online, defects are cured online, matters are listed, cause lists are displayed, and orders and judgments are uploaded there. Certified copies are sought there, and court fees and other charges are often paid through links from the portal. Login IDs, passwords, one-time passwords, bank details or client confidences entered on a fake page can be lost at once.

Fraudulent domain targets e-filing users

E-filing accounts hold particular risk because they store personal particulars, contact details, case details and payment instruments. An advocate-on-record's account may cover filings across many matters. A party-in-person account may hold identity documents, addresses and phone numbers. Case pages can also disclose strategy through the list of filings. The advisory said the fraudulent domain could seek this material under the guise of an official service.

Time pressure makes lawyers vulnerable to such traps. A link received in a hurry, a search result close to the real site, or an old bookmark can open the wrong page. That page may ask the visitor to log in again, update a profile, verify a mobile number or complete a payment. Information entered there should have gone only to sci.gov.in. The Registry asked users to check the domain letter by letter at the login and payment stage.

Cyber safety guidance describes common phishing scam examples such as look-alike websites, messages that create urgency over a pending case or payment, and forms that ask for more detail than an official portal would require. The Registry did not say any of those methods were used here. It limited itself to naming the suspect domain and warning of credential harvesting. The pattern still explains why experienced users can be caught when a fake site copies the language and layout of a public body.

A phishing scam text usually reaches a mobile phone and urges the recipient to click a link for a case update, a fee payment or correction of a filing error. The link may carry a name that resembles the Court at first sight. Once opened, it can seek a username, password, card number or one-time password. The advisory does not link the suspect domain to any such message, but its direction not to share personal or financial information covers links received by text.

By email, a phishing scam email often allows more deception. A subject line can refer to listing, defects, refunds or certified copies, with formatting that mimics official correspondence. The recipient may be asked to sign in through an embedded button instead of typing the known address. The advisory does not state that such emails were sent in this instance. It says verify the address independently, go to sci.gov.in by typing it, and enter no credentials through an unverified link.