My bank account was drained by a fraud call — what should I do first?
Key takeaways
- Call the bank's fraud helpline first, because only the bank can flag the beneficiary account and request a reversal of funds already sent.
- Report on cybercrime.gov.in and on helpline 1930 as well, since the five-calendar-day condition for compensation needs both a bank report and a police report.
- Under RBI's June 2026 instructions, effective 1 January 2027, a victim with a gross loss up to Rs 50,000 may get 85% of net loss or Rs 25,000.
- In 2026 alone, Indians lost over Rs 22,800 crore to telecom fraud and impersonation scams, so this category of fraud is now at industrial scale.
- Never approve a UPI collect request to unlock your own account; no bank, police agency or official will ask you to do so.
As of 24 October 2026: the service descriptions, prices and turnaround figures on this page are current.
What should I do in the first hour?
Four moves, in this order. First, call your bank's fraud helpline, which is printed on the back of your card and on the bank's own website, and ask them to flag the beneficiary so the money cannot be withdrawn further. Second, file a complaint on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal at cybercrime.gov.in and call helpline 1930. Third, call your telecom operator and ask them to block any SIM or device registered to your number in the last 30 days, because the fraud may have started with a SIM swap. Fourth, write down the timeline while it is fresh: the call time, what was said, the payment reference, the transaction time and the amount. Every later step, including a compensation claim, depends on that timeline being accurate.
How does the five-day rule actually work?
RBI's June 2026 instructions, effective 1 January 2027, set out the compensation framework. A genuine individual victim whose gross loss is up to Rs 50,000 may be compensated at 85% of the net loss, or Rs 25,000, whichever is lower, subject to conditions. The critical condition is timing: the fraud must be reported to the bank and to the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal or helpline 1930 within five calendar days of the transaction, and the victim must not have been complicit. Because the portal report and the bank report are separate obligations, do both on the same day, and keep the acknowledgement numbers. Where the loss exceeds Rs 50,000, or where the case is complex, the matter goes through the standard grievance and escalation route.
How does the Money Restoration Portal fit in?
The Money Restoration Portal is the mechanism through which money held in the accounts of the fraudsters is traced and returned to the victim, and it is now linked to the reporting process on cybercrime.gov.in. For it to work, the FIR or complaint number generated by your cybercrime.gov.in filing has to reach the bank and the investigating authority, because the trail runs from the complaint through the receiving account to the money. That is why the same-day dual reporting matters: without a complaint number, there is nothing to attach the restitution claim to. A victim who reports late may still get the money back, but the automatic compensation framework and the speed of the restitution both weaken.
What should I never do?
Never approve a UPI collect request, even one that appears to come from your own account, a bank or a government department. Never share an OTP, a UPI PIN, a CVV, a net banking password or a screen-sharing session. Never install an app from a link sent during the call, because remote-access tooling installed under that pretext is what makes the account drain possible in the first place. Never argue with the caller to 'prove' their identity, because the script is designed to hold you on the line. And never pay a second time to 'unblock' the first payment; that is the standard recovery scam, and it costs victims more than the original fraud.
| Order | Action | Who to contact | Why it is first |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Freeze the beneficiary and request reversal | Your bank's fraud helpline | Only the bank can stop the funds moving further |
| 2 | File a complaint and get the acknowledgement number | cybercrime.gov.in and helpline 1930 | Creates the report required for restitution and compensation |
| 3 | Check for unauthorised SIM or device registration | Your telecom operator | Fraud often begins with a SIM swap |
| 4 | Write the timeline and preserve SMS and call records | Your own records | Every claim and FIR depends on it |
| 5 | Change email and banking passwords from a clean device | Your providers | Stops persistence after the incident |
| 6 | Tell your bank in writing and keep the acknowledgement | Your bank's grievance channel | Triggers the written claim process |
What are the frequently asked questions?
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