Lost money in online fraud? Money debited from your bank account without your knowledge? What can I do recover my money lost in cyber fraud? What steps to follow after online scam?
Online frauds are rising globally and cyber criminals are becoming more smart in getting away.
Whether you fallen victim of Phishing scam, unauthorized money transfer, investment platform or fraudulent online purchase, in such circumstances you have to act fast, every second will drift you away from getting close to your lost money.
This time will help criminals to withdraw or transfer the money so don’t panic, immediately follow the below given steps after online scam to recover money
We have provided the 7 simple steps how to recover your money immediately after online fraud
1. Contact your bank or payment provider immediately:
Request your bank to immediately:
- Freeze the bank account
- Block your cards and upi’s
- Reverse unauthorized transfers/transactions (banks have small window between the money transfer- may be some minutes or hours) to stop or reverse the fraudulent transfers)
- Initiate chargeback or dispute the suspicious transaction
Ask your bank or payment providers to chargeback or reverse the transfers if the transfer is recent and still in transit. They approximately have 15 days to work such investigation and reverse the transaction if caught early.
Below I’ve provided customer care contact number of major banks so you can contact hassle free.
Customer Care Helpline Numbers – Major Banks in India
| Bank | Customer Care Number |
| State Bank of India (SBI) | 1800 1234 / 1800 2100 / 1800 11 2211 |
| HDFC Bank | 1800 1600 / 1800 2600 |
| Axis Bank | 1800 209 5577 / 1800 103 5577 |
| Bank of Baroda (BOB) | 1800 258 4455 / 1800 102 4455 |
| Punjab National Bank (PNB) | 1800 180 2222 / 1800 103 2222 |
| Union Bank of India | 1800 22 2244 / 1800 208 2244 |
| Canara Bank | 1800 1030 / 1800 425 0018 |
| Kotak Mahindra Bank | 1860 266 2666 |
| IndusInd Bank | 1860 267 7777 |
| Central Bank of India | 1800 22 1911 |
2. Collect all documents, chats or other evidences related to fraudulent activity:
Gather and save all transaction details including Receipt, emails, screenshot of chats transactions IDs, website URLs, phone numbers, social media handle and every piece of document correspondence to such scam.
These all documents are crucial for further complaint, investigation and law enforcement. They’re essential to recover your money and trace back to the cyber criminals so do not delete any important document.
3. Report the fraud to the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal
Reporting online will increase your chance of recovering the money lost. First, file your complaint on https://cybercrime.gov.in/ immediately.
How to file complain on National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal:
- Open https://cybercrime.gov.in/ link
- On top left, click on Register your Complaint and select Financial Fraud from dragged down button
- Click on Financial Fraud and then select file your complaint https://cybercrime.gov.in/Webform/Accept.aspx
- Now, login to the portal and fill the necessary information
- Personal information: Name, contact number, email address, gender and National ID (Aadhar card, driving license or any)
- Incident details: Write about the incident in description with full details:
- Exact time and date
- Mention Mode of communication (if any) (phone, whatsapp, social media or any other)
- Platform where the incident occurred (if any)
- Attach the all documents and other evidences related to the incident.
- Suspect details (if any): Name, email address, contact number or any other details
- After filling all the information submit your complaint
- Easily track the status of your complaint online from the portal
4. Call on Cyber Crime Helpline 1930:
The 24/7 Cyber Crime Helpline 1930 assist you for every cyber crime whether it’s cyber bully, financial fraud, take down or stop spreading your Non-consensual intimate images from the internet (stopncii), cyber threats and cyber blackmailing.
Call on this number and report your incident of cyber crime for urgent assistance and guidance.
This helpline will guide you to take the right actions for your cyber scam, cyber expert will provide the best way to recover your money.
5. Visit your nearest police station and lodge the FIR:
After filing your complaint online, go to your nearest police station and file a FIR (First Information Report).
This is to double assured to recover your money as soon as possible and acknowledge the authorities regarding the cyber fraud incident with you.
The police authorities will investigate on the matter and coordinate with the banks to help you recover your lost money.
6. File a complaint with bank ombudsman and regulatory authorities:
If your bank doesn’t work properly on your complaint or lack in investigation. even after filing the complaint with the bank, you received no satisfactory response from your bank you can complaint it to bank ombudsman after 30 days of filing the complaint with your respective bank.
Reserve Bank of India provides a portal , where you can file a complaint about your bank or other regulatory authorities if they do not work properly or dont investigate on your complaints.
7. Notify the platform where the scam took place:
If you’ve defrauded on online platforms like whatsapp, Instagram, facebook, twitter (X), telegram, E-commerce websites, online marketplace, investment platforms or other URL’s, contact the respective platforms.
Report the scammer’s profile, listing, info on the platform. Also notify them regarding your cyber crime incident. You can either email or contact them on their customer care helpline.
This may help platforms to identify and suspend the scammers account.
Track your complaint on regular basis:
Majority of people forgets about the fraud and move on with their life. Don’t repeat such mistake, take regular follow ups and track your scam complaint from your bank, the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal, Police FIR, and platforms mentioned.
This will definitely increase your chance of recovering money faster.
What to do in first few minutes of online scam?
Here’s the list of urgent fraud action from yourside:
- Immediately freeze all your bank accounts, cards and upi’s
- Contact your bank to reverse the unauthorised transaction
- Change the password and other credentials
- Gather evidences (screenshot every chats and necessary documents)
- Report the suspicious transactions
- Alert your family and friends regarding such incident
- File an online complaint
What is the possibility of recovering your cyber scam money?
There is high chance of recovering your lost money due to cyber scam by following these easy steps.
In majority of cases where people when they acted quickly, provided required details and stayed persistence in tracking the investigation have recovered their lost money.
With the above right steps you can also increase the chances of getting your money back.
Cyber Scam/Online Fraud is a crime under section 69B of Information and Technology (IT) Act 2000 and Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) 2023. Government and law enforcement are liable to take immediate action in such cases.
Online scam may sound quite stressful but you have to take action immediately and calmly. Make a report of evidences related to the fraud, contact your bank, report it to the cybercrime portal, and constantly track the investigation.
With these right steps, not only you can recover your money but also protect financial data and avoid further loss.
Take necessary precautions to avoid cyber fraud, such as change your account passwords frequently, do not share or click on any suspicious links, beware of suspicious social media account, do not get into a trap by any finance scheme, and be cautious while engaging online.
