To register a cyber crime complaint online in India, file it on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal with your mobile number and email, describe the incident and upload the evidence. For a financial fraud, also dial the cyber crime helpline 1930 and inform your bank at once, and where a cognizable offence is involved, lodge a written complaint at your local police station so that an FIR can be registered.
Where to register a cyber crime complaint online
The national route is the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal, run under the Ministry of Home Affairs, where a large range of cyber offences can be reported online. The financial-fraud helpline 1930 works alongside it for money-related complaints, and the state police in West Bengal also run their own cyber crime cells and online complaint services. A complaint filed on the national portal is routed to the appropriate police unit, but it does not by itself replace an FIR where an FIR is required.
You can complain whether or not you know the offender. Where the offender is unknown, the portal is designed to accept the complaint and pass it for investigation rather than turning you away. If the platform on which the offence happened has its own reporting mechanism, such as a social media site’s grievance channel, using it is useful but not a substitute for the police complaint; the platform can remove content or freeze an account, but only the police can investigate an offence.
What you can report on the national portal
The portal covers the common cyber offences that people actually face. Among them are online financial fraud such as UPI, card, net-banking and investment scams; hacking of accounts or devices; identity theft and impersonation; cyber stalking and harassment; obscene or abusive content; and social media account takeover. Certain categories, including material involving child sexual abuse, have a dedicated reporting channel and can be reported anonymously.
Complaints about a company’s service deficiency or an online purchase dispute are consumer matters, not cyber crimes, even though they happen online. Those belong in the consumer forum, and filing them as cyber crime only delays both remedies. Equally, a purely civil dispute over a contract performed online is not a cyber crime merely because the internet was used to perform it.
Step by step: filing on the national portal
- Open the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal and register with your mobile number and email; you will receive a one-time code to verify each.
- Choose the complaint category that matches your incident, such as financial fraud or a social media crime.
- Enter your details as complainant, and the incident details: date and time, the description of what happened, and any information about the suspect.
- Upload the evidence you have gathered — screenshots, transaction records, messages — within the size and format the portal allows.
- Review and submit. The portal issues an acknowledgement number; write it down and keep it safe, because you will need it to track the complaint.
Fill the description with facts and dates rather than conclusions. A sentence such as "on 12 March I received a call claiming to be from my bank and transferred the amount in four UPI transactions to this handle" is worth far more to an investigator than a general allegation. Attach the bank statement for the period and note the transaction reference numbers, and give the phone numbers, handles or email addresses of anyone involved.
The golden hour: reporting financial fraud fast
For money fraud the first hours matter more than anything else you do. As soon as you realise the loss, dial 1930, give the transaction details, and separately call your bank to report the unauthorised or fraudulent transaction and ask it to flag the beneficiary account. The faster the transaction is reported, the better the chance that the money can be traced or frozen before it leaves the banking system. Do this even if you also file online — the two steps work together.
Keep the acknowledgement or reference number from the 1930 call and the bank’s complaint number. If the bank refuses to act or blames you for the loss, those references are the evidence that you reported promptly, which matters when a complaint is later made to the banking ombudsman or a court.
What happens after you file
After you file, you may be contacted by the cyber crime police for further details, and the complaint may be forwarded to the police station or cyber cell with jurisdiction. Where the facts disclose a cognizable offence, the police register an FIR, and the investigation proceeds under the law. You can check the status of the online complaint using the acknowledgement number, and you should follow up if you hear nothing for an unreasonable time.
If you are asked to appear or to give a statement, do so. Cooperating is ordinarily in the complainant’s own interest, and it is the complainant who can supply the bank and device records that the police may need. Keep a copy of everything you submit, so that your account of what you filed does not depend on memory months later, and note the name and designation of any officer you deal with.
The law behind a cyber crime complaint
Cyber offences in India are prosecuted principally under the Information Technology Act, 2000, together with the general criminal law. Among the provisions that come up most are identity theft and cheating by personation using a computer resource under the IT Act, the offence of cheating and of cheating by personation under the general penal law, and the offences relating to obscene material online. The Act also deals with unauthorised access to a computer resource and with the causing of damage to data.
Since 1 July 2024 the general criminal law has been recast: the Indian Penal Code, 1860 is now the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 is now the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, and the Evidence Act, 1872 is now the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023.
The practical consequence is a change in numbering. What was cheating under Sections 415 and 420 of the IPC is now dealt with under Section 318 of the BNS; cheating by personation under Sections 416 to 419 of the IPC now appears as Section 319 of the BNS; and defamation under Sections 499 and 500 of the IPC is now Section 356 of the BNS. The power of the police to register an FIR on a complaint, earlier Section 154 of the CrPC, is now Section 173 of the BNSS. If your complaint is drafted with the old sections it is still intelligible, but quoting the current ones avoids needless confusion at the counter.
| What happened | Older provision | Current position |
|---|---|---|
| Cheating, such as money taken online | IPC 415 and 420 | BNS 318 |
| Cheating by personation online | IPC 416 to 419 | BNS 319 |
| Defamation online | IPC 499 and 500 | BNS 356 |
| Identity theft and cheating by personation using a computer resource | IT Act 66C and 66D | Unchanged under the IT Act, 2000 |
| Obscene material online | IT Act 67 | Unchanged under the IT Act, 2000 |
Filing at a police station, an FIR and a zero FIR
Online filing is convenient, but for a cognizable offence the formal machinery begins with an FIR. You are entitled to give a written complaint at a police station, and the officer must register it if it discloses a cognizable offence; if the station refuses, the complaint can be sent in writing to the Superintendent or Commissioner of Police. A zero FIR can be registered at any police station, even one without territorial jurisdiction, and is then transferred to the station that has jurisdiction, which matters when the offender and the victim are in different places.
For a matter that can be resolved by an FIR, combining the online complaint with a written complaint at the station gives you both the record and the formal registration. If the police refuse to register, that refusal itself is a matter on which you should take advice promptly, because delay can affect both the investigation and any compensation claim.
Preserve your evidence before anything else
Evidence loses value the moment it is lost. Before you delete anything, keep full screenshots that show the URL, the account handle and the date and time; export or photograph chat histories; save the bank statement and the transaction reference numbers; keep the fraudulent email with its headers if you can; and do not wipe the device or uninstall the app through which the fraud happened. If the account was hacked, change the password only after capturing the evidence of the unauthorised access.
Keep an electronic and a printed copy. A court or an investigator works on documents that can be produced, and a screenshot with the source visible is worth far more than a recollection. Where the loss is large, a notarised copy of the key screenshots, made early, is a sensible precaution.
When to involve an advocate
A single online complaint is often enough, and many frauds are pursued by the police without a lawyer. Legal help is worth taking when the loss is large, when the police decline to register an FIR, when the bank refuses to reverse a fraudulent transaction, when the complaint has been closed without action, or when a civil recovery suit or a banking-ombudsman complaint has to be filed alongside the criminal complaint. For that kind of assistance see our services page, book a free consultation, or read more guides on our blog.