Investment scam complaint process: steps and timeline

By Advocate Panchanand Shaw, Bar Council of West Bengal · Published 1 Nov 2026 · Cyber crime

An investment scam complaint needs three filings, not one: a report to the 1930 helpline and cybercrime.gov.in to trigger the account freeze, a written complaint to your bank, and an FIR under section 173 of the BNSS 2023. What decides the outcome is the transaction detail you attach to each.

An investment scam complaint in India runs on three parallel tracks, and the mistake most victims make is to treat them as alternatives. The first is a report to the national cyber crime helpline 1930 and the cybercrime.gov.in portal, which is what triggers the urgent attempt to freeze the beneficiary account. The second is a written complaint to your own bank, which creates the record on which any reversal or liability argument depends. The third is a first information report under section 173 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, which converts your account of events into an investigation. File all three. They cost nothing and each one protects a different interest.

There is no single form and no single counter. What determines whether the complaint works is whether it hands an investigator something to act on: the unique transaction reference of every payment, the beneficiary account details, the mobile numbers and handles used, the application or website, and the messages in which the money was asked for. A complaint that says "I lost money in an investment scam" and nothing else will be received, numbered and filed. A complaint that attaches five pages of traceable detail is a working document.

What the law requires of a complaint

Cyber fraud is a cognizable offence, so a police station cannot refuse to record the information. BNSS 173 requires the officer in charge to record information about a cognizable offence, permits the information to be given by electronic communication, and applies the zero FIR principle so that any station may register the case and then transfer it to the station having jurisdiction. Where the officer in charge refuses to record it, section 173(4) allows the informant to send the substance of the information in writing to the Superintendent of Police, who must either investigate or direct a subordinate officer to investigate. Where even that fails, section 175(3) of the BNSS allows the victim to apply to the Magistrate, who may order an investigation. The victim is entitled to a copy of the first information report free of cost.

One provision deserves attention because it explains a delay that surprises victims. Under section 173(3) of the BNSS, where the offence is punishable with imprisonment of three years or more but less than seven years, the officer in charge may, with the prior permission of an officer not below the rank of Deputy Superintendent of Police, conduct a preliminary enquiry for up to fourteen days to see whether a prima facie case exists. Cheating under section 318(4) of the BNS 2023 carries up to seven years, and cheating by personation under section 66D of the IT Act 2000 carries up to three years, so cases can fall on either side of that threshold and the enquiry route is sometimes used. It is lawful, but it is also a reason not to wait quietly for fifteen days — keep the pressure on through the bank and the portal while the preliminary enquiry runs.

The substantive offences you are asking the police to investigate are BNS 2023 section 318(4) for the inducement and delivery of property, BNS 319 where a person was impersonated, BNS 61 where a group ran the scheme, BNS 316 where money was entrusted to an agent or adviser and misappropriated, BNS 336 where documents or electronic records were forged, and sections 66C and 66D of the IT Act, 2000 where a computer resource was used to impersonate or to misuse identity credentials. You are not required to get the sections right in your complaint, but naming the conduct accurately helps the officer classify the case on the first day.

The complaint, step by step

Follow the sequence below in order. Steps one and two should happen within hours of the discovery, and the sequence matters because each step produces a reference number that the next one uses.

Call 1930 immediately. The national cyber crime helpline takes the transaction details and initiates a request to the banks concerned to freeze the beneficiary account. Have your bank statement open in front of you and read out the unique transaction reference of every payment, the dates and the amounts.
File the same complaint on cybercrime.gov.in. The portal creates a formal acknowledgment and preserves the complaint in the national system. Choose the category that fits the case — fraudulent transactions and investment fraud are separate categories — and note the acknowledgment number.
Write to your bank the same day. Address the letter or the email to the branch manager and to the nodal officer for fraud, quote the 1930 and portal reference numbers, list every disputed transaction with its reference number, and ask for a written complaint reference. Ask specifically that the beneficiary accounts be flagged. Keep proof of when you sent it.
Preserve the evidence before it disappears. Screenshot the chats, the group, the profile, the application screens, the payment confirmations and the promised returns. Export the chat rather than relying on photographs of the screen. Do not uninstall the application and do not reset the phone. Where the case will be contested, an electronic record needs the certificate required by section 63 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023, and that certificate is far easier to obtain while the original device is untouched.
Give the police a written complaint. Take two copies of a clear, dated complaint, hand one over at the police station having jurisdiction, and ask for the station diary entry or the FIR number on your copy. If the station is unsure, remember that a zero FIR can be registered anywhere and transferred.
Collect the FIR and the investigation details. Ask for the FIR number, the name of the investigating officer and the crime number for the court record. The BNSS requires the victim to be informed of the progress of the investigation, so a follow-up request is not an imposition.
Keep a single chronology. Maintain one table of every payment, every communication and every official reference. Investigators, banks and courts all work from dates and reference numbers, and a victim who can produce a clean chronology on demand is treated very differently from one who cannot.
Decide on the civil track. If any recipient is identifiable within India — a company, an individual seller of the fraudulent scheme, an account holder who received and kept your money — a civil claim for recovery is a separate remedy and can be filed alongside the criminal case. Take advice before sending a notice, because a premature notice can warn the operators to move what is left.

Documents to keep ready

Document	Why the investigator or bank needs it
Bank statement covering the whole period of payment	Establishes every debit, date, amount and reference number
Payment confirmations and unique transaction references	The starting point for tracing funds to the beneficiary account
Screenshots and exports of chats, groups and calls	Proves the inducement, the false promise and the identities used
Application or website details, with version and download source	Identifies the computer resource used, and links it to section 66D of the IT Act
Account statements or dashboards shown by the scheme	Shows the fabricated returns the victim relied upon
Identity proof and address proof	Needed for the complaint record and for any verification
Copies of the 1930 complaint, portal acknowledgment and bank complaint	Each reference strengthens the next filing and fixes the date of reporting
The device used for the payments and chats	Source of the original electronic record and of the section 63 certificate

Realistic timelines

The timelines that actually bind are few, and knowing them prevents both panic and complacency. A report to 1930 and the portal starts the freeze attempt at once; the benefit is greatest in the first hours because beneficiary accounts are abandoned quickly. Under the RBI's directions of 6 July 2017 on limiting customer liability in unauthorised electronic banking transactions, a customer who notifies the bank within three working days of receiving the bank's communication about an unauthorised transaction is entitled to zero liability in a third-party breach, and the bank must credit the amount to the account within ten working days of the notification. The bank's Board-approved policy must resolve the complaint and fix liability within a period not exceeding ninety days. Reversal, however, is a different question where the customer themselves authorised the transfers, and that distinction is discussed in the article on recovering money.

On the police side, a preliminary enquiry under BNSS 173(3), if taken, is meant to conclude within fourteen days. Beyond that, the pace depends on the investigating officer, the volume of similar cases and whether the beneficiary accounts are traceable. Charging decisions in these cases commonly take months, and cross-border elements can extend that considerably. What a complainant controls is not the pace but the quality of the starting material.

Where complaints stall — and why

Four failures account for most stalled investment-scam complaints. The first is detail: a complaint without reference numbers gives the officer nowhere to begin. The second is jurisdiction: victims are sometimes sent from station to station because the beneficiary account, the accused and the victim are in different places, when in fact a zero FIR can be registered anywhere and transferred. The third is the loss of evidence in the first days — the uninstalled application, the deleted chat, the reset phone. The fourth is a mischaracterised case: describing a deliberate fraud as a "business dispute" because the victim still hopes the operators will pay, which pushes the matter towards a civil remedy the victim may not be able to enforce and away from investigation powers that can freeze money.

What not to do

Do not pay any further amount to release your investment, and do not accept an offer to add money to "activate" a withdrawal. Do not engage a self-styled recovery agent who asks for an advance fee; recovery fraud is a recognised second-stage scam aimed at people whose names already circulate in victim lists. Do not send your original documents to anyone. Do not publish the names of private individuals as fraudsters before an investigation has established it. Do not delay the bank complaint until the police case reaches some stage; the bank timelines in the RBI framework run from when you notify the bank, not from when you lodge the FIR. And do not treat the portal acknowledgment as the end of the process — it is the beginning of it.

When to involve a lawyer

Most straightforward complaints do not need a lawyer. A lawyer becomes useful when the police are not registering the case despite a clear disclosure, when you want a Magistrate moved under section 175(3) of the BNSS, when a civil recovery claim must be drafted and filed quickly, or when the electronic evidence needs to be put in a form a court will accept. A cyber crime lawyer in Kolkata can also coordinate between the police complaint, the bank claim and the civil claim so that filings made in one do not weaken the other, and for complainants in West Bengal the procedure at the West Bengal cyber crime practice page sets out the local route to the commissionerate and the magisterial courts. The rule of thumb is simple: file fast, document everything, and take advice before making the first aggressive move rather than after.

Need help with a cyber crime matter?

Tell me what happened and I will tell you what to file, where, and by when. First conversation is free.

Call +91-9007000603 WhatsApp

Frequently asked questions

How do I file an investment scam complaint in India?

Call the 1930 cyber crime helpline and file on cybercrime.gov.in on the same day, giving every transaction reference and the beneficiary account details. Then write to your bank to obtain a complaint reference, and lodge a police complaint under section 173 of the BNSS 2023. All three are separate filings and all three are useful.

Can the police refuse to register my investment scam FIR?

No. Cheating under section 318(4) of the BNS 2023 is cognizable, so the officer in charge must record the information, and a zero FIR may be registered at any station. If registration is refused, you may send the substance of the information in writing to the Superintendent of Police under BNSS section 173(4).

What documents do I need for an investment scam complaint?

Your bank statement covering the payments, payment confirmations with unique transaction references, screenshots and exports of the chats and the fake application, the application or website details, and copies of the 1930, portal and bank complaint numbers. Keep the device itself untouched, because section 63 of the BSA 2023 requires a certificate for electronic records.

How long does an investment scam complaint take to be resolved?

Freezing is attempted within days of the 1930 report. A preliminary enquiry under BNSS 173(3) is meant to finish within fourteen days where it is used. Under the RBI's 2017 directions, a bank must resolve a complaint and fix liability within ninety days of receiving it. Police investigations in multi-account frauds often take considerably longer.

Do I need to file an FIR if I have already complained on the cybercrime portal?

Yes, if you want a criminal investigation rather than only a transaction freeze. The portal complaint routes bank action; the FIR under BNSS 173 creates the case that an investigating officer works on and that a court can ultimately take cognizance of. The two reference numbers support each other.

Can I file an investment scam complaint in Kolkata if the fraud happened online?

Yes. Cyber fraud is treated as cognizable and a zero FIR can be registered at any police station, including one in Kolkata, and then transferred to the station having jurisdiction. If the station declines, the Superintendent of Police route under BNSS 173(4) and the Magistrate route under BNSS 175(3) remain open.

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.

Cyber crime lawyer in your city · Bank account freeze help · Contact