What to do after an online fraud: the first hour

Speed decides how much can be saved. Do these steps in this order, and tick them off as you go.

The checklist

Tick each step as you finish it. The ticks stay in this browser so that you can come back.

1. Dial 1930, the national helpline for victims of financial cyber fraud, and report the transaction.
2. Call your bank or card company on its official number. Block the card, UPI or account and report the transaction as unauthorised. Note the complaint number.
3. If an app was installed or a screen was shared: switch the phone to flight mode and act from another phone.
4. File a complaint on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal, cybercrime.gov.in. Save the acknowledgement number.
5. Save the evidence: screenshots of chats and pages, phone numbers, UPI IDs, account numbers, transaction references, links, app names. Delete nothing.
6. Change the passwords and PINs of banking, email and UPI from a device you trust. Check for unknown payees and linked devices.
7. Write to the bank (email or branch) repeating the report, with date and time, and keep a copy.
8. Tell your family, and warn contacts if your account or phone was used to message them.

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Why the first hour matters

Stolen money is moved quickly through a chain of accounts and withdrawn. A report made within minutes gives the bank and the police system a chance to hold it on the way. A report made the next day usually finds the accounts empty. Do not wait to be sure, to feel less embarrassed, or to ask whether it is worth reporting a small amount. Report first.

What to keep ready when you call 1930 or your bank

• Your name, mobile number and the bank and account or card from which money went.
• For each fraudulent transaction: date, time, amount and the reference number (UTR, RRN or transaction ID) from the SMS or app.
• Where the money went, if shown: the UPI ID, account number, wallet or merchant name.
• How the fraud happened, in two sentences.
• The fraudster's phone numbers, links, app names and usernames.

If you do not have everything, call anyway and give what you have.

Reporting to the bank protects your legal position

The Reserve Bank of India's directions on unauthorised electronic transactions tie your liability to how soon you tell the bank. Banks must give customers round-the-clock channels to report, must acknowledge with a complaint number, and must act at once to stop further unauthorised transactions. Where the fault is neither yours nor the bank's and you report within three working days of the bank's alert, your liability is zero. If you gave away credentials such as an OTP, you bear the loss up to the moment you report, and the bank bears any loss after it. So report immediately in every case. The details are on who bears the loss.

Filing the written complaint

The helpline call should be followed by a written complaint on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (cybercrime.gov.in), or at your nearest police station or cyber crime police station. Keep the acknowledgement number; the bank may ask for it. The step-by-step guide to filling in the portal's form is on our sister site Kaise Karein.

If no money was lost but details were shared

You read out an OTP, typed your card details into a strange page, or installed an app, but see no debit yet. Treat it as urgent all the same.

• Block the card or freeze the account through the bank's app or helpline, and get a new card.
• Change passwords and PINs.
• Remove the app and check the phone (see APK file scams).
• Report the number, message or link on Chakshu at the Sanchar Saathi portal, which is meant for suspected fraud attempts. See Sanchar Saathi.

Things not to do

• Do not pay anyone to recover the money. "Recovery agents", "cyber lawyers" and "hackers" who find victims online are a second fraud.
• Do not keep talking to the fraudster in the hope of getting it back.
• Do not search online for the helpline of your bank in a hurry; use the number on your card or in the bank's app. See fake customer care numbers.
• Do not blame yourself into silence. These frauds are designed by professionals and catch educated, careful people every day.

Other official help

• A dispute with a seller or company, as distinct from a fraud, can be taken to the National Consumer Helpline: toll-free 1915, shown on its website as open 8 am to 8 pm, or through consumerhelpline.gov.in.
• If the shock or shame is hard to bear, the government's Tele MANAS mental health helpline is 14416.

Helplines and portals on this page were checked on their official websites on 12 November 2026. This is an independent information site, not a government service, and we cannot take or follow up your complaint.

Independent guide. This is not a government, bank or police website. Helplines and rules were checked at official sources on 12 November 2026; confirm on the official site before relying on them.