Lost money to a cyber fraud? Call 1930 now and file at cybercrime.gov.in. The first hour matters.
What to do, step by step →Cyber crime in India, explained properly
Clear guides on every kind of cyber crime affecting people in India, the official ways to report it, and professional help when you need a person rather than a portal.
Official help is free. National helpline 1930 · cybercrime.gov.in · Suspicious call or SMS: Sanchar Saathi (Chakshu)
Any offence where a computer, phone, network or online account is either the target or the tool. In India that covers the obvious cases, such as hacking and data theft under the Information Technology Act, 2000, and the far more common ones: cheating by impersonation, extortion, stalking and criminal intimidation that happen to be done over a phone call, a UPI app or a social-media account, charged under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023.
Most of what reaches the 1930 helpline is financial: money moved out of an account after a call, a link, a QR code or a fake app. The rest is personal: blackmail, harassment, stolen accounts and misused photographs. The pages below cover both.
Know the pattern
Money taken from your bank, UPI, card or wallet through deception, a stolen OTP, a fake link, a malicious app or an unauthorised transaction.
Callers posing as police, CBI, ED, customs or TRAI keep you on a video call, accuse you of a crime, and extort money as "bail", "verification" or a "safe account" transfer.
Your Aadhaar, PAN, photos or phone number used to open accounts, take loans, get a duplicate SIM, or impersonate you to others.
Fake emails, calls and SMS that imitate a bank, government body, courier or employer to steal credentials, OTPs or money.
A video call or chat is recorded or faked, then used to demand money under threat of sending it to your contacts.
Your WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, email or X account taken over, or a fake profile created in your name to cheat your contacts.
Repeated unwanted contact, monitoring, threats, abusive messages or posting of personal details, often targeting women.
Grooming, sextortion of minors, child sexual abuse material, cyberbullying and gaming-chat exploitation.
Fake trading apps, Telegram "tips" groups, IPO allotment scams and crypto platforms that show profits on screen and never let you withdraw.
Fake job offers with "registration fees", illegal loan apps that harass you and your contacts, and relationships built to extract money.
Attacks on organisations that encrypt systems for ransom or steal customer and employee data, with legal duties to report.
Cloned voices of relatives, deepfake videos of officials and celebrities, and AI-generated profiles used to make every other scam more convincing.
How a scam actually works
The script changes: a parcel with drugs, a frozen bank account, a job, a stock tip, a video call. The structure does not. If you can see the four moves, you can hang up at move two.
A call from “TRAI”, “CBI”, “the bank”, a courier, a recruiter, a match on a dating app. Caller ID and letterheads are easy to fake.
Your account will be blocked, you will be arrested, the offer expires, do not tell anyone. Panic is the product.
Share an OTP, scan a QR, install a screen-sharing app, pay a “refundable” fee, move money to a “safe” account.
The number goes dead. Days later a “cyber expert” or “lawyer” offers to recover the money for a fee. That is the same gang.
Numbers that matter
Every number on this site is taken from a government reply, regulator report or published court order, and dated. Where sources disagree, we say so.
If it has just happened
Money moved through UPI or net-banking passes through several accounts within hours. Banks can freeze it only while it is still in the chain. Speed matters more than paperwork.
Full reporting guideThe national cyber-fraud helpline. They register the complaint and alert the banks in the chain.
Keep the acknowledgement number. Your bank and the police will ask for it.
Block the card or UPI, ask for the transaction to be flagged, note the time you informed them. RBI's zero-liability rules depend on it.
Screenshots, numbers, UPI IDs, URLs, call logs. Do not delete the chat, even if it is embarrassing.
No agency can guarantee recovery. Anyone who says they can, for a fee, is the next scam.
When you need a person
Money gone through UPI, net-banking, card or wallet. We get the complaint, bank dispute and regulator escalation right, in the order and at the speed that gives frozen money a chance.
What is included →A caller claiming to be police, CBI, ED, customs or TRAI kept you on video and made you transfer money. We stop the pressure, file the right complaints and handle the bank and the follow-up calls.
What is included →Someone has an intimate image or recording of you and is demanding money. We help you stop paying, preserve evidence, get the content blocked and removed, and file the complaint discreetly.
What is included →Manual testing of your web apps, mobile apps, APIs, networks and cloud by people who think like the attacker, with findings ranked by what would actually be exploited first and a report your engineers can act on.
What is included →A practical path to compliance with the Digital Personal Data Protection Act 2023 and its rules, from gap assessment and consent design to breach notification planning and a DPO you can call.
What is included →Ransomware, a compromised mailbox, a data leak or an insider walking out with the database. We contain first, investigate properly, handle the CERT-In and DPDP reporting, and leave you with evidence that holds up.
What is included →Realistic phishing, vishing and WhatsApp simulations with short training that changes what people do, measured over time, and built around the scams actually hitting Indian companies.
What is included →A 90-minute session, in Hindi or English, that teaches any group to recognise the four moves of a scam and to hang up at move two.
For: Housing societies, clubs, employees' families, community groups
A three-day course for police, legal professionals and compliance teams on investigating financial cyber crime in India, from the first complaint to money trail, platform requests, evidence and charge sheet.
For: Police, legal professionals, compliance teams
An annual programme for all staff with a half-day kickoff, quarterly phishing simulations, short refreshers and a report your auditor and board can read, built around behaviour, not slides.
For: All staff
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Yes. The 1930 helpline, cybercrime.gov.in, Sanchar Saathi, bank fraud lines and police stations charge nothing. Nobody needs to pay anyone to file a complaint.
Sometimes, and only when the money is frozen before it is withdrawn. Reporting on 1930 within the first hours gives the best chance. Nobody can guarantee recovery; anyone who promises it for a fee is running the next scam.
Not to start. The portal and 1930 register the complaint. An FIR at a police station may be needed later for bank, insurer or court purposes, and you can insist on one.
Mainly the Information Technology Act, 2000 (hacking, identity theft, obscene content, privacy) and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (cheating, extortion, stalking, intimidation), with the DPDP Act, 2023 for data protection and the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023 for electronic evidence.
No. There is no such procedure in Indian law. Any call that keeps you on video, threatens arrest and asks for money is a scam. Hang up and report it.
The first conversation is free. Individual matters are usually a fixed fee agreed in advance; business work is scoped and quoted in writing. Training is priced per session.
Tell us what happened. We explain what to do next, in plain words, and handle the paperwork if you want us to.