Reporting Online Scams In India: A Step-By-Step Guide To Using The Cyber Crime Portal

With the rise in online scams, an increasing number of individuals are falling victim to financial losses. Perpetrators, concealing their true identities through fake online personas, manage to evade punishment for their fraudulent activities. These scams encompass a wide range, from job scams on platforms like WhatsApp and Telegram to the well-known fake army officer scam that made headlines recently. Unfortunately, the majority of scam victims choose not to report the incidents to law enforcement, enabling scammers to grow bolder and persist in their deceitful practices.

Fortunately, citizens in India have several ways to report scams to the authorities. They can either go to their local police station and file a complaint there – or they can simply register a complaint on the Cyber Crime Reporting Portal. In this article, we will discuss how you can register a complaint about the latter.

For the uninitiated, the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal is an initiative of the Government of India that allows victims of cyber fraud to report cyber crime complaints online. Users can visit the platform here.

Filing a complaint in the cybercrime reporting portal:

1. Open the Cyber Crime Reporting Portal and go to the homepage to find the “Make a complaint” section.
2. Click on the “Make a complaint” option and read the agreement carefully. Then click “I accept”.
3. There are two options on the page: “Report online crime against women/children” and “Report online crime”. Select the second option, “Report cybercrime”.
4. If you have not yet registered on the portal, click “Click here to become a new user” and complete the registration process by entering your details.
5. Next, fill in your address information as needed.
6. The portal prompts you to select the nature of the cybercrime from the list provided.
7. Additionally, you need to determine where the crime occurred, such as on a website or online platform such as Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, etc.
8. You must also provide a detailed description of the offense (up to 1500 words), including how it happened.
9. On the next page, enter the necessary information about the suspect.
10. Once you’ve entered the details, review all of the information you’ve submitted, then click Submit.
11. Once you have submitted, you should receive a confirmation from the portal to both your phone and email, along with an assigned complaint ID.