Vishing call fraud complaint: documents and timeline
By Advocate Panchanand Shaw, Bar Council of West Bengal · Published 2 Nov 2026 · Court process
A vishing call fraud complaint is filed in two places at once: the transaction is reported to your bank for reversal, and the criminal offence is reported to the police through 1930 or cybercrime.gov.in. The bank track decides the money; the police track decides the offender.
Filing a vishing complaint is not a single act. The transaction has to be reported to the bank so that the reversal claim under the Reserve Bank of India's framework for unauthorised electronic transactions begins to run, and the offence has to be reported to the police so that a freezing request can be issued and an investigation opened. Treating one as the whole job is the most common reason a complaint stalls. This guide sets out what you file, where, with which documents, and what happens next.
The offence itself is described by Section 66C of the Information Technology Act 2000 where the caller fraudulently used your password or other unique identification feature, and by Section 66D where the caller cheated by personation using a communication device. Where money was induced out of you directly, cheating under Section 318 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023 applies, and impersonation of a public servant may add Section 319 of that Sanhita.
Where the complaint goes
There are three channels, and they are not alternatives to one another. The national portal at cybercrime.gov.in, reachable also through the 1930 helpline, records the complaint and routes it to the appropriate police unit; it is the channel most likely to trigger a fast freeze on the receiving account. The bank's nodal officer handles the reversal claim as an administrative matter. The police station with jurisdiction registers the First Information Report under Section 175(3) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita 2023, which requires the officer in charge to register the FIR and forward it to the magistrate without unnecessary delay. Section 173 of the same Sanhita allows the initial information to be recorded electronically, so a portal complaint is a lawful starting point. Section 35 allows another person to give information where the victim is a woman or a person incapable of reporting for themselves.
One practical point about the two police channels. The portal records the complaint centrally and forwards it, which is efficient but can leave the complainant unsure who is handling it; the local police station, by contrast, gives a named officer and a station diary entry. Filing at both is sensible: the portal for speed and the station for a paper trail, with the portal acknowledgement quoted in the written complaint so that the two are visibly the same matter rather than two separate claims.
Documents you must attach
| Document | What it establishes | Where to get it |
|---|---|---|
| Written complaint with the time of first notice | Fixes the reporting time | You draft it |
| Bank statement covering the debit | Proves the loss and the beneficiary | Bank portal, official PDF |
| Call log and caller's number | Identifies the medium of deception | Phone call history |
| OTP and alert messages | Times the authentication and debit | Message thread, unedited |
| Any reference number the caller gave | Shows the impersonation | Your own note of the call |
| Identity and payment details of the complainant | Identifies the victim and account | Your records |
Attach originals or clean copies, never edited screenshots. Section 63 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam 2023 governs the proof of electronic records and expects the record and its supporting certificate to be capable of showing authenticity, so a bank-issued statement file outranks a picture of a screen.
What the written complaint must say
A complaint that is read by a bank's nodal officer, a portal handler and a police sub-inspector in the same hour should answer the same handful of questions in the same order, because none of them has time to reconstruct your account for you. Set out the date, the time and the number or displayed name of the call; what the caller claimed to be; what you were told to do; what you actually did or disclosed; and the exact amount, time and reference of the debit. Do not argue the law in the complaint, and do not characterise the caller with adjectives. State facts in sequence and let the record carry the rest.
Three sentences do most of the work. The first fixes the moment of discovery, because that time anchors the liability question under the reversal framework. The second states plainly that the transaction was not authorised by you, in those words, rather than leaving the bank to infer it. The third lists the documents attached by name, so that nothing is described as enclosed without being enclosed. Keep the complaint to a page and a half; a long complaint is not a stronger one, and details added from memory a week later can read as reconstruction rather than recollection.
Retain two copies. One goes to the bank and, where filed in person, one to the police station, and you keep a third stamped or emailed copy for yourself. The single file you keep is the file you will produce if the matter reaches the ombudsman or, later, a courtroom, and its value depends entirely on how clearly the original was written at the moment you were still certain of the facts.
The complaint, step by step
- Write the complaint before you call, so that you are not composing it under pressure. State the date and time of the call, the number or the displayed name, what the caller claimed, what you disclosed or did, and the exact amount and time of the debit.
- Call 1930 and file the same account on cybercrime.gov.in. Keep the acknowledgement number it generates.
- Email the bank's nodal officer with the complaint attached and demand that the transaction be marked unauthorised and the amount held. Record the date and time of the email.
- If the portal has not produced action within a reasonable time, present the written complaint at the police station with jurisdiction and ask for the FIR to be registered under Section 175(3) of the BNSS 2023.
- Obtain a copy of the FIR, or at least its number, because that number follows the case into court and is what you will cite when following it up.
- If the receiving account is still holding funds, ask the investigating officer to move for a freeze, and provide the beneficiary details and the transaction reference so the request is precise.
- If the bank declines to credit the amount, escalate to the RBI Ombudsman for digital transactions, which is a free channel that does not require an advocate.
The timeline you should expect
| Stage | What happens |
|---|---|
| Day zero | Call 1930, portal complaint, bank nodal email |
| First days | Possible freeze on the receiving account |
| Early weeks | Registration of FIR, assignment to an investigating officer |
| Bank track | Resolution within the defined complaint window, then ombudsman if refused |
| Investigation | Depends on tracing the beneficiary and the logs, and on whether the case can be charge-sheeted |
The bank track generally moves faster than the police track, but the two are independent, and a slow investigation is no reason to soften a reversal claim. Equally, a reversal does not end the criminal case; the money may come back while the prosecution continues.
If the police do not register the FIR
A refusal to register is a common frustration, and it is usually a resource problem rather than a legal one. The remedy is to put the request in writing and keep the acknowledgement, and, where the officer still declines, to place the matter before the magistrate, who can consider the complaint and direct the course the law provides. In this situation a written record of the first request is essential, because the magistrate will ask what step the complainant took with the police before approaching the court. Where the offence is committed across districts, the initial information can still be recorded and transferred rather than refused, so the complainant should not accept a bare jurisdictional rejection without a written reason.
Who else to notify
Beyond the bank and the police, three other parties are worth informing and each serves a different purpose. Your telecom operator can be asked to look into the number that called you, and an official request from the investigating officer is what unlocks the subscriber record; a request from you alone generally will not. The platform that carried any message or payment can be asked to preserve its records, again most usefully through the police. The credit bureaus matter where identity documents or card details were disclosed, because a loan or a new account opened in your name is a common second stage, and a note on your file makes the fraudulent application easier to reject.
Do not overlook the beneficiary's own bank. The receiving account belongs to an institution that must act on a lawful freeze or production request, and it is the investigating officer, not the victim, who sends it. The victim's job is to make that request precise: the exact amount, the time of the debit, the reference number and the account or wallet that received the funds. A request that names the beneficiary is acted on far faster than one that describes a general fraud.
Special situations that change the filing
Where the victim lives in one state and the money moved through accounts in another, the complaint is still filed where the victim is, and the receiving police unit takes it forward or transfers it. A victim should not accept a bare jurisdictional refusal; the initial information can be recorded and routed. Where the victim is elderly or unwell, a family member may give the information under Section 35 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita 2023, and it helps to attach a short note explaining the victim's condition so that the ground for the family member's filing is on record.
Where the victim is a company, the complaint is filed by an authorised signatory and the internal audit trail becomes part of the evidence, including who in the organisation took the call and under what authority they acted. Where the victim is a minor, the complaint is made on their behalf by a parent or guardian, and the account details are usually a parent's. Each of these situations changes who signs, what is attached, and sometimes which court eventually hears the matter, which is why the facts should be stated plainly at the outset rather than left to be discovered later.
Mistakes to avoid
- Filing the bank claim but never the police complaint, so that no freeze is possible.
- Describing the loss vaguely, without the amount, the time and the beneficiary, which slows every downstream step.
- Handing over edited screenshots instead of original records and the bank's own statement file.
- Failing to obtain and keep the FIR number and the portal acknowledgement number.
- Giving the OTP a second time to a caller who claims to be helping investigate the first fraud.
When to involve a lawyer
The filing itself needs no lawyer, and a well-drafted complaint filed the same day is stronger than a lawyer's letter filed a week later. Counsel becomes useful when the police decline to register and the matter must go to the magistrate, when the bank disputes that the transaction was unauthorised, or when the case has to be conducted in court. In West Bengal, matters are typically contested before the Bankshall Court or the City Sessions Court, with appeals to the Calcutta High Court, and a cyber crime lawyer in Kolkata who works these courts can keep the bank track and the police track from falling out of step. If you would rather have the draft complaint reviewed before you file it, the firm's contact page is the place to begin.
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Call +91-9007000603 WhatsAppFrequently asked questions
Where do I file a vishing call fraud complaint?
File in three places. Report the transaction on 1930 or cybercrime.gov.in, email your bank's nodal officer for the reversal claim, and present a written complaint at the police station with jurisdiction for the FIR. The portal and the police track can trigger a freeze; the bank track decides whether the amount is credited back.
What documents are needed for a vishing complaint?
You need a written complaint stating the date, caller and amount, the bank statement covering the debit, the call log and the caller's number, the OTP and alert messages, and any reference number the caller used. Attach clean originals rather than edited screenshots, because section 63 of the BSA 2023 governs proof of electronic records.
Is an FIR necessary for a vishing fraud case?
The bank reversal can proceed without an FIR, but the criminal case needs one. Section 175(3) of the BNSS 2023 requires the officer in charge of a police station to register an FIR on a cognisable offence and forward it to the magistrate without unnecessary delay. The FIR number is what lets you follow the case into court.
How long does it take to get money back from a vishing fraud?
There is no fixed period, and recovery is never guaranteed. The bank is expected to resolve an unauthorised-transaction complaint within a defined window, and a freeze placed within the first few days gives the best chance. If the funds have already been layered onward, the police investigation becomes longer and the outcome uncertain.
What if the police refuse to register my vishing complaint?
Put the request in writing and keep the acknowledgement. If the officer still declines, the matter can be placed before the magistrate, who can consider the complaint and direct the course the law provides. Keep the written record of the first request, because the magistrate will ask what step you took with the police.
Can I file a vishing complaint online?
Yes. cybercrime.gov.in, reachable through the 1930 helpline, accepts the complaint and routes it to the appropriate police unit, and section 173 of the BNSS 2023 allows the initial information to be recorded electronically. An online filing does not remove the need to follow it with a written complaint for the FIR.
Do I have to go to a police station in person for a vishing case?
Not always. A portal complaint and a written complaint emailed to the bank are enough to start both tracks, but a personal visit is often needed to secure the FIR, produce original records, and press for a freeze request. Where travel is difficult, send the written complaint and follow up by phone.
Can a relative file the vishing complaint for me?
Yes, in the circumstances the law allows. Section 35 of the BNSS 2023 permits another person to give information about an offence where the victim is a woman or a person physically or mentally incapable of reporting it themselves. In other cases the complaint should ordinarily come from the victim, unless authority has been given.
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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