If money has been stolen through UPI, a card, a bank account or a wallet, call India’s cyber financial fraud helpline 1930 promptly, then file the complaint at cybercrime.gov.in. Notify your bank or payment provider at the same time. For other cybercrimes, use the relevant category on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (NCRP). Save the acknowledgement number and preserve your messages, receipts and transaction details.
What to do first after a cyber fraud
- For a financial fraud, call 1930 promptly. This is the government’s helpline for cyber financial fraud. Reporting quickly may help authorities and financial institutions coordinate to try to stop funds moving, but a call does not guarantee that money will be frozen or recovered.
- Contact the bank, wallet or payment provider immediately if a transaction was unauthorized. Ask it to secure or block affected payment access, prevent further unauthorized transactions and give you a service complaint or reference number. The Reserve Bank of India directs banks to take immediate steps to prevent further unauthorized transactions after receiving a customer report. Customer liability depends on the circumstances and how quickly the transaction is reported; a refund is not automatic. See the RBI circular dated July 6, 2017 and check with your bank about rules that apply to your case.
- File online at the NCRP using the appropriate category. For online financial fraud, use the applicable “Report Other Cybercrimes” option. The portal also handles listed categories such as mobile crimes, hacking, ransomware and cryptocurrency crimes.
- Keep the acknowledgement number and use it to track the complaint. The matter is routed to the concerned State or Union Territory (UT) police authorities.
If there is an immediate physical threat, or the incident is an emergency or not a cybercrime, contact local police or emergency services. The portal lists 112 for national police assistance and directs emergencies to local police; see its filing page.
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How to file a cybercrime complaint online
- Open the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal and choose the reporting option that matches the incident. For online financial fraud and other listed cyber offences, select the relevant “Report Other Cybercrimes” category.
- Register for the report-and-track process with your name and a valid Indian mobile number, as required by the NCRP FAQ.
- Complete the form with the incident details, transaction information where relevant, and available suspect details. Attach the requested identity document and supporting evidence, following the live form’s format and size limits.
- Review the information for accuracy, submit the complaint, and save the acknowledgement number. Use that number to check status through the portal.
The portal’s form and instructions may change, so follow the current on-screen requirements when filing. A Delhi-specific handout says callers reporting financial cyber fraud there should complete an online complaint within 24 hours after receiving an acknowledgement, but it is older and limited to Delhi; do not treat that as a confirmed nationwide deadline. Follow the instructions in your acknowledgement SMS and on the current portal. The handout is available here.
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Details for the complaint
The current official complainant checklist asks for an incident date and time and a factual description of at least 200 characters. It also warns against certain special characters in that description; follow the live form’s instructions if they change.
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- A soft copy of an accepted national identity document in JPEG, JPG or PNG format; the checklist states a maximum size of 5 MB.
- For financial fraud, the bank, wallet or merchant name; 12-digit transaction ID or UTR; transaction date; and amount.
- Relevant evidence files; the checklist states a maximum of 10 MB per file.
- If available, suspect website URLs or social-media handles, phone number, email, bank account, address, photo or other identifying details.
Do not guess at information you do not have. Mark it as unknown or explain that it is unavailable. The Government Services Portal also lists the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal service.
Records worth preserving
The NCRP FAQ lists examples including credit-card receipts, bank statements, courier envelopes, brochures or pamphlets, online money-transfer receipts, emails, webpage URLs, chat transcripts, screenshots of a suspect mobile number, videos, images and other documents. Keep original messages and records where possible, and save copies that show dates, amounts, account or transaction identifiers, web addresses, sender details and conversation context.
Avoid deleting messages, resetting devices, editing screenshots or forwarding suspicious links to others. These are practical evidence-preservation steps, not a forensic procedure specified by the portal. You do not need to buy a phone or computer to file: use the records and device access you already have.
How to check a complaint and escalate a concern
Use the acknowledgement number to check your complaint status on the NCRP. The portal sends complaints to the relevant State/UT police authorities, which handle the case. If you consider a Report and Track response inappropriate, the portal publishes State/UT nodal and grievance officer contacts. The NCRP FAQ explains the reporting and tracking process at cybercrime.gov.in.
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What filing a complaint can—and cannot—do
An NCRP submission is a complaint, not a guarantee that an FIR will be registered, an investigation will have a particular outcome, or funds will be returned. The Ministry of Home Affairs says investigation, conversion to an FIR and subsequent action are handled by the concerned State/UT law-enforcement agencies under law. Its July 28, 2026 Press Information Bureau release reports that the Centralised Cyber Fraud Reporting and Management System (CFCFRMS) had helped save more than ₹11,158 crore across more than 32.80 lakh complaints through June 30, 2026. Those are cumulative system figures, not a prediction of an individual complainant’s recovery.
The same release explains that “Police” and “Public Order” are State subjects under the Constitution’s Seventh Schedule. In practice, this is why the concerned State/UT police handle the complaint rather than the portal itself deciding the investigation.
Give accurate and complete information. The NCRP FAQ warns that false information can have legal consequences; do not treat the FAQ’s older statutory reference as current legal advice.
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