Your money was taken in an online fraud. Here is what to do in the first hour.

In cyber financial fraud, the window that matters is measured in hours, not days. Money moved out of your account travels through a chain of accounts and is withdrawn quickly. Reporting fast is what makes it possible to freeze it further down the chain.

In the first hour

1. Call 1930. This is the national cyber financial fraud helpline. Report the transaction while it is still fresh.
2. File on cybercrime.gov.in. The National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal generates an acknowledgement — keep the number.
3. Tell your bank in writing. A phone call is not enough. Email the branch and the fraud desk, ask for the transfer to be held, and keep the delivery receipt.
4. Freeze the channel. Block the card, change the internet banking password, and remove any app you were asked to install.

Preserve the record properly

• Screenshots of the full chat or call log, with the number visible
• The UPI ID, account number or wallet the money went to
• Transaction IDs and the exact timestamps
• Any email or SMS you received, forwarded with full headers where possible

Do not delete the messages, and do not reset the phone. Electronic evidence has to be produced with a certificate, and the original device matters.

Then a written complaint

The portal complaint starts the process; a written complaint to the cyber police station, followed up properly, is what moves it. Where the amount is significant, an application can be made to the court for release or restoration of the frozen funds.

If your own account has been frozen

People who have never committed a fraud sometimes find their account frozen because a tainted transfer passed through it. That is a defensible position, but it has to be argued with documents showing the transaction was genuine. It does not resolve itself by waiting.