How to File a Cyber Crime Complaint in India
India recorded more than 3.24 crore complaints on the 1930 cybercrime helpline in 2025. If money has just left your account, stop reading after the next section and make the call — everything else on this page can wait an hour, and your money cannot.
If money has already gone: the golden hour
Call 1930 immediately. The helpline can trigger a freeze request on the receiving account, and whether that works depends almost entirely on how fast you call.
Fraudulent money moves through a layering chain — mule account to mule account — usually within the first few hours. A freeze placed while the money is still in the first account often recovers it in full. A freeze placed the next morning usually recovers nothing.
- The transaction ID / UTR number of every fraudulent transfer
- Your account or card number and the exact times of the transfers
- The phone number, UPI ID or website the fraud came through
- Screenshots of the messages, call log entries, or the app you were asked to install
Filing on cybercrime.gov.in
The National Cybercrime Reporting Portal handles the written complaint. It splits into two tracks, and choosing the wrong one costs you weeks.
"Report Women/Child Related Crime" allows a genuinely anonymous report for offences against women and children, including non-consensual intimate imagery. "Report Other Cybercrimes" requires registration with a mobile number and OTP, and covers financial fraud, hacking, impersonation and everything else.
After filing you receive an acknowledgement number. Save it. It is the only handle you have on the complaint, and the portal's status updates are terse — a complaint can sit at "Under Process" indefinitely with no explanation.
The scams currently costing Indians the most
The categories change faster than the law does. As of 2026 the highest-loss patterns are: the digital arrest scam, where a caller impersonating CBI or a courier company holds a victim on video for hours; fake trading and IPO apps promising guaranteed returns; task-based part-time job frauds run over Telegram; and loan apps that harvest a phone's contact list and extort the victim with it.
One structural note worth internalising: no Indian agency — not the CBI, not the ED, not any police force — conducts an arrest over a video call, ever. There is no such procedure. A video call claiming otherwise is a scam without exception.
When the portal gives you nothing back
The common experience is an acknowledgement number and then silence. You are entitled to follow up with the cyber cell of your district, and you can escalate through the state nodal officer listed on the portal.
You should also keep your own independent, timestamped copy of everything you submitted. If the complaint is closed and you want it reopened, or you end up in a consumer forum against your bank, the evidence you preserved yourself is what you will be arguing from. This is exactly what CrimeZero's on-chain sealing is for — a copy with a provable timestamp that does not depend on any portal keeping its records.
Frequently asked questions
What is the cyber crime helpline number in India?
1930, operated by the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre. It is toll-free and operates for financial cyber fraud. Written complaints go to cybercrime.gov.in.
Can I file a cyber crime complaint anonymously?
Only for crimes against women and children, where cybercrime.gov.in provides an anonymous track. All other categories, including financial fraud, require registration with a mobile number and OTP.
Can money lost to cyber fraud be recovered?
Sometimes, and it depends almost entirely on speed. Reporting within the first hour, while the money is still in the first receiving account, gives the best chance of a freeze. After the funds are layered across multiple accounts, recovery is rare.
Is a digital arrest real?
No. No Indian law enforcement agency conducts arrests over video calls. There is no such legal procedure. Any call claiming to place you under digital arrest is a scam, regardless of how convincing the uniforms, documents or backdrops appear.