Abstract

This paper contributes to current debates on the policing of Internet fraud by introducing the Saudi Arabian experience. Drawing on field research in the capital city, Riyadh, it explores how this new aspect of policing activity fits in with not only the existing organisational practices, but also the occupational and individual concerns of frontline officers. Moreover, the article considers the implications of the Saudi culture, social norms, and values for police responses to Internet fraud. It is argued that the policing of Internet fraud in Saudi Arabia, and the extent to which it fits with contemporary debates on risk-based policing of cybercrime, can only be understood by examining how new policing modes and cultural traditions merge and integrate to shape police response to this novel criminal phenomenon