You can file a cyber crime complaint online in India through the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal at cybercrime.gov.in, and if money has been taken from you in an online fraud you should call the national cyber crime helpline 1930 immediately. The portal complaint is registered with the police and gives you an acknowledgement number you can follow up. Reporting quickly matters most in financial fraud, because a bank can sometimes freeze or reverse a transaction while the money is still traceable.
Report money lost to online fraud within the golden hour
In an online fraud the first few hours decide whether anything can be recovered. The moment you realise money has moved, call 1930, give the transaction details and the complaint is registered on the system that the banks watch for suspicious transfers. Then inform your bank in writing and ask for the transaction to be stopped or the beneficiary account to be marked. Do not wait to gather every document first; the call to 1930 is the urgent step, and the online complaint can follow the same day.
If you delay for a week, the money has usually moved through several accounts and recovery becomes far harder. That is why the helpline and the portal are built around speed, not around proof.
A common mistake is to report only to the bank, or only to the police, and not to 1930. The three steps — the helpline, the portal and your bank — reinforce one another, and skipping one slows the others. Write down the exact amount and the transaction reference before you call, since the helpline operator will ask for them first, and note the time of the call and the reference number you are given.
Step 1: collect the evidence before you file
A cyber crime complaint is only as good as the details in it. Before you sit down to type, assemble the following.
- Screenshots of the messages, the profile, the advertisement or the website that misled you.
- The full transaction details: the UPI or bank reference number, the date, the time and the amount.
- Your bank statement page showing the debit or the transfer.
- Any email you received, with the full email headers if you can get them.
- The phone number or the account from which you were approached.
- Copies of your identity proof and your contact details.
Keep the originals. Do not delete the chat, and do not clear the phone, because the device is evidence if the matter is investigated.
Step 2: file the complaint on the national portal
Open the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal and choose the reporting option that matches your matter. The portal separates complaints into financial fraud, other cyber crime, and matters relating to women and children. Pick the category, fill in the details, upload the screenshots and submit. You will receive an acknowledgement number; keep it safe, because it is how you track the complaint and follow up.
| What happened | Where to start | Also do this |
|---|---|---|
| Money taken in a UPI, card or investment fraud | Call 1930, then file the financial-fraud complaint | Inform your bank in writing and ask for a freeze |
| Fake profile, hacking or online abuse | File an "other cyber crime" complaint | Preserve chats and account details |
| Intimate images or content about a woman or a child | Use the women and children category | You may report anonymously |
| A crime you can also report at a police station | File the portal complaint and visit the police station | Ask for an FIR and a copy of it |
The portal routes your complaint to the police of the district concerned, so a complaint filed from Kolkata about an offence committed elsewhere still reaches the right unit.
Step 3: tell your bank and ask for a freeze
The bank is a separate lever from the police. Send a written complaint to your branch and on the bank's grievance channel, quote the transaction reference and ask for the transfer to be stopped or the beneficiary account blocked. Keep the acknowledgement. If the bank does not act, the complaint to the banking ombudsman is the next step, and the record of your prompt report through 1930 and the portal supports your case.
Step 4: get a police FIR when you need one
A portal complaint registers your grievance, but for many offences you also need a First Information Report so that an investigation starts in the ordinary way. An FIR in a cognisable case is registered under Section 173 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, which replaced Section 154 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973. You can go to the police station having jurisdiction, or to a cyber crime police station, and give a written complaint; the police must reduce it to writing and give you a copy.
If the local police refuse to register the FIR, you can send the complaint in writing to the Superintendent of Police, and if that also fails, approach the Magistrate. For an offence spread across districts there is also the facility of a zero FIR, which is registered at any station and then transferred to the one with jurisdiction.
What the law covers: the IT Act, 2000 and the BNS, 2023
Cyber offences are punished mainly under the Information Technology Act, 2000, with the general offences of cheating and fraud coming from the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, which replaced the Indian Penal Code, 1860. Identity theft and cheating by personation using a computer resource are offences under Sections 66C and 66D of the IT Act, and offences relating to publishing obscene or sexually explicit material are covered by Section 67 and the sections that follow.
Cheating is now Section 318 of the BNS, which corresponds to the old Section 420 of the IPC, and cheating by personation is Section 319. Because the codes changed on 1 July 2024, a complaint drafted after that date will cite the new sections while an older file will carry the old ones; do not be thrown if you see both.
The punishment fixed by each provision varies, so the seriousness of a cyber crime depends on the section the police ultimately invoke. The first look at a complaint may suggest one set of sections, and the investigating officer can add or change them as the facts emerge. This is why a clear, well-documented complaint that points to the exact conduct helps both the police and you.
Complaints about women and children
The national portal has a dedicated section for complaints relating to women and children, covering offences such as circulating private images, sexual harassment online and child sexual abuse material. A complaint in this category can be filed anonymously, without giving your name, and the material is handled by the special units. If you also want action against a known person, the ordinary complaint route with identification is stronger, because an anonymous report cannot easily support a prosecution.
What happens after you file
Your complaint is scrutinised, assigned to the police unit concerned, and you can check the status on the portal using the acknowledgement number. If more information is needed, an officer may contact you. In a financial fraud the police work with the bank and with the payment intermediary to trace the money. Recovery is never guaranteed, and you should treat any promise of a full refund within days as a warning sign rather than reassurance.
Keep every acknowledgement: the 1930 reference, the portal number, the bank's reply and any FIR copy. They are the paper trail that makes the complaint move. If the offence has cost you a large sum or the police action stalls, an advocate can pursue the investigation through the appropriate court. Our legal services cover cyber matters, and our guide to fake income tax notices explains one common fraud that should be reported. You can book a free consultation if you are unsure whether your matter is a crime or a civil dispute.
Details to keep ready at every step
Whether you call 1930, file on the portal or go to a police station, the same core details are wanted: your name and contact details, the date and time of the incident, the amount and reference of any transaction, the identifiers of the accused such as a phone number, profile or account, and a plain account of what happened. Write these out once and reuse them, so that nothing important is left out in the stress of the moment. Keep a single note with all these references in one place, so that you can quote them whenever an officer or the bank asks.