How to file a WhatsApp fraud complaint in India (step by step)

By Advocate Panchanand Shaw, Bar Council of West Bengal · Published 2 Nov 2026 · Court process

A WhatsApp fraud complaint is filed in three places on day one: 1930 for a bank freeze, cybercrime.gov.in for a national reference, and a signed written complaint at a police station so an FIR can be registered under section 173 of the BNSS 2023. The written complaint decides whether anything moves.

A WhatsApp fraud complaint in India goes through three doors, and the order you use them in matters less than the fact that you use all three. Call 1930 and file at cybercrime.gov.in the same day, then give a signed written complaint at a police station so that an FIR can be registered under section 173 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023. The offences are ordinarily sections 66C, 66D and 67 of the Information Technology Act, 2000 and section 318 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023.

The complaint itself is the part most people get wrong. A message to the helpline saying "I have been cheated on WhatsApp" produces a reference number and very little else. A complaint that names the handle, the number, the date, the amount, the bank reference and the section is a document an investigating officer can act on. The difference between the two is about forty minutes of careful writing.

Before you write anything: the first forty-eight hours

Three things must be captured before they disappear. The first is the conversation. Screenshot every message, the contact card, the profile photograph and the number in full, with the time visible on the screen. The second is the payment. Save the UPI reference, the bank SMS, the transaction ID and the statement entry, and note the exact time the debit appears. The third is the account. If your WhatsApp was taken over rather than used by a fraudster's own number, screenshot the linked-device warning and note when you lost access.

Do not tidy up the phone. Do not delete the chat "because it is upsetting". Do not factory-reset the handset to "remove the hacker", which is the single most destructive instinct in these cases. If the phone must be cleaned, back it up first and record in writing when the backup was made.

The three doors

1930 is the national cyber crime helpline. Its practical function is to stop money leaving the banking system, so it matters most when a payment has been made. The call takers log the transaction and route a request to the banks involved. Have the amount, the time, the beneficiary account or UPI handle and your own account number ready before you dial.

cybercrime.gov.in is the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal. It accepts complaints in categories, including financial fraud and social media impersonation, and it issues an acknowledgement number. The portal is the only place where a complainant outside a metro can create a national record without travelling. Attach the screenshots as files rather than describing them in the text box.

The police station is the third door, and it is the only one that can produce an FIR. Section 173 of the BNSS requires the officer in charge to record information disclosing a cognizable offence, and the proviso allows registration at a station that lacks territorial jurisdiction, with the case transferred later. That proviso is the answer to the officer who says the offence happened in another district.

What the written complaint must contain

Write it as a statement of facts in chronological order. There is no prescribed form, but there are eight elements that an officer needs, and a complaint missing two or three of them is the one that stalls.

Your identity and contact details, with the number on which you can be reached. A complaint with no working number cannot be followed up.
The date and time you first noticed the fraud, and how you noticed it. Precision here fixes the reporting window for the bank as well as the police.
The exact identifiers: the fraudster's WhatsApp number with country code, the profile name, the UPI ID or bank account credited, the transaction reference. Write the full number; a masked number cannot be requisitioned from a telecom operator.
What was said, in sequence. Not "he cheated me" but "on this date at this time he sent this message, I replied this, he then asked me to transfer this amount to this UPI ID".
The amount and the mode. One figure, supported by the bank statement, with the number of transactions stated plainly.
What you have already done: the 1930 reference, the portal acknowledgement, the bank complaint number and the platform report. This prevents the officer from treating the complaint as a first report and repeating work.
The relief you are asking for: registration of an FIR, investigation of the number and the beneficiary account, and preservation of records.
A list of attachments, numbered, so that the receipt can refer to them.

I, [name], residing at [address], state that on [date] at about [time] I received a message on WhatsApp from the number [full number] presenting itself as [description]. I was induced to transfer Rs [amount] to [UPI ID or account number] on [date] at [time], transaction reference [reference]. I reported the matter on 1930 vide reference [number] and on cybercrime.gov.in vide acknowledgement [number] on [date]. I request registration of an FIR under sections 66C and 66D of the Information Technology Act, 2000 and section 318 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, and preservation of the records of the said number. Attachments: [list].

That skeleton is not a substitute for your own facts, and it should not be copied with the blanks unfilled. Its purpose is to show the shape: identity, identifiers, sequence, amount, prior reports, relief, attachments. Everything else is detail.

Filing at the police station

Take two copies. Give one, keep one, and ask the officer to stamp and sign the copy you keep, with the FIR number written on it. If the officer declines to register and characterises the matter as civil, ask for the reasons in writing. A refusal that exists on paper can be challenged; a refusal that exists only in conversation cannot.

If registration is refused, send a written complaint to the Superintendent of Police setting out the facts and the refusal. If that produces no investigation, apply to the Magistrate under section 175(3) of the BNSS, which is the successor to the old section 156(3) of the Code of Criminal Procedure. The application is short: the facts, the date you complained, the refusal or the silence, and the request for a direction to investigate. Attach the complaint and the receipt or refusal.

In Kolkata, the station that covers the place where the loss occurred has jurisdiction, and the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's courts at Bankshall Court hear the section 175(3) applications for the metropolitan area. For the districts, the application goes to the Chief Judicial Magistrate. The Calcutta High Court's power under section 528 of the BNSS is a separate and narrower remedy, used for quashing or transfer rather than for speeding up a station.

Filing online, properly

The portal asks you to choose a category before it asks for facts. Choose the category that matches the loss, not the platform. A WhatsApp investment fraud is a financial fraud; a WhatsApp impersonation profile is an impersonation complaint; a WhatsApp obscene message is a cyber obscenity complaint. Choosing wrongly sends the file to a queue that will transfer it, which costs days.

Write the narrative in the same order as the written complaint, and keep it under the character limit by attaching a PDF if the facts are long. Save the acknowledgement as a PDF rather than a screenshot, and note the acknowledgement number in the margin of your police complaint. If the portal shows a status of "transferred", note the receiving state and the date, because a transferred complaint is not an investigated one.

What should happen after you file

Stage	Authority	What to expect
Immediate	1930 and the bank	Transaction logged, freeze request sent to the beneficiary bank
Day one to three	Portal and police station	Acknowledgement number; FIR if the facts disclose a cognizable offence
Within a week	Investigating officer	Requisition of subscriber details and call records under BNSS s 94
Within thirty days	Bank nodal officer	Provisional credit decision under the RBI framework, or a reasoned refusal
If the bank refuses	RBI Ombudsman	Independent examination of the liability finding
If the police do not act	Magistrate under BNSS s 175(3)	Direction to investigate

If money was taken, add the bank limb

A police complaint does not move money back. Report the transaction to your bank's fraud line and then by email to the nodal officer on the same day, and ask for a provisional credit under the Reserve Bank's directions on unauthorised electronic banking transactions. The direction limits your liability by reference to how quickly you report: zero liability where you report within three working days and the fraud is not due to your negligence, limited liability within four to seven working days, and the bank's policy thereafter. Ask for the chargeback to be raised through your bank where the payment was on the Unified Payments Interface, and keep the reference.

What decides whether the complaint is registered

Registration turns on whether the facts disclose a cognizable offence, not on whether the officer believes you will recover the money. A complaint that describes a deceptive message, a payment induced by it and an identifiable beneficiary discloses cheating, and cheating is cognizable. A complaint that describes only an argument, a bad bargain or a delayed delivery does not.

The second factor is the quality of the identifiers. An officer can requisition records for a number and an account. An officer cannot requisition records for "some WhatsApp number". The third is consistency with the bank record. If your complaint says fifty thousand rupees and the statement shows five, the discrepancy is treated as exaggeration and the rest of the complaint loses weight. The fourth is your own conduct: whether you kept the messages, whether you reported promptly, whether you have already approached the platform.

What not to do

Do not send the complaint by registered post only. A postal complaint creates a record but does not create an FIR; go in person and get the stamp.
Do not file at five stations. One station, one reference, and escalate upward if it stalls.
Do not name a section you cannot explain. An officer who spots a wrongly cited section starts doubting the facts.
Do not accept "we will call you". Ask for the officer's name, the diary number and the date by which you should follow up.
Do not approach a private "cyber recovery" agency. Recovery fraud is a recognised second-stage fraud against the same complainant.

When to involve a lawyer

Most first complaints are filed without a lawyer and are registered. A lawyer helps when the station refuses to register, when the complaint has been transferred twice and stalled, when the bank has denied liability on a negligence ground, or when the same fraudster has taken money from several people and a consolidated complaint would be stronger than separate ones. The work is drafting and procedure, and it is measured in documents rather than arguments. For a Kolkata filing, the cyber crime law practice page sets out the forums and the blog archive has related notes on evidence preservation.

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Frequently asked questions

How do I file a WhatsApp fraud complaint online?

Go to cybercrime.gov.in, choose the category that matches the loss, and enter the fraudster's full number, the amount, the transaction reference and the sequence of messages. Attach screenshots as files. The portal issues an acknowledgement number, which you should save as a PDF and quote in your police complaint.

Is 1930 necessary if I have already filed on the portal?

Yes, call 1930 as well when money has moved. The helpline sends a freeze request to the banks in real time, while the portal creates a record that is routed to a police unit later. A freeze in the first hours is what makes recovery possible, and the portal alone cannot do it.

Can a police station refuse to register a WhatsApp fraud complaint?

It should not, because cheating by personation is a cognizable offence and section 173 of the BNSS 2023 requires registration. If the officer refuses or says the matter belongs elsewhere, ask for the refusal in writing, complain to the Superintendent of Police, and then apply to the Magistrate under section 175(3).

What details must a WhatsApp fraud complaint contain?

Eight things: your identity and working phone number, when you noticed the fraud, the fraudster's full number and the beneficiary account or UPI ID, the messages in sequence, the exact amount and mode, the reports already made, the relief you want, and a numbered list of attachments.

How long does the police take to act on a cyber fraud complaint?

There is no fixed statutory period for completing a cyber investigation, but the first steps are quick where the complaint is complete. Subscriber details and call records are usually requisitioned within a week under section 94 of the BNSS. If nothing happens within a week, follow up in writing and keep the acknowledgement.

Do I need a lawyer to file a WhatsApp fraud complaint?

No. A first complaint can be filed by anyone who can write a clear chronology and attach the evidence. A lawyer becomes useful when the police refuse to register, when the complaint has been transferred repeatedly, or when the bank has denied liability and the matter needs to go to the RBI Ombudsman.

What is a zero FIR and does it apply to WhatsApp fraud?

A zero FIR is a first information report registered at a police station that lacks territorial jurisdiction, numbered zero and later transferred to the correct station. The proviso to section 173 of the BNSS 2023 permits it. It applies to WhatsApp fraud, so a station cannot turn you away on jurisdiction grounds alone.

Can I file a WhatsApp fraud complaint for someone else?

Yes, where you are the person who suffered the loss or you hold a written authorisation from them. A complaint filed by a friend on behalf of a victim without authority is treated as third-party information and may not be registered as an FIR. The victim's own signature, or a power of attorney, is the safe course.

Information for general guidance only and not legal advice. Provisions cited follow the Information Technology Act 2000, the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023 and the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita 2023.

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