The article is written by Ramanuj Mukherjee, CEO of, Lawsikho, and updated by Pooja Kapur, a 5th year law student from Amity Law School, Noida, and Yash Jain, a third-year student at the Institute of Law, Nirma University. The article discusses the concept of cybercrime complaint and how to file a cybercrime complaint both offline and online.

What is Cyber Crime?

Any activity being unlawful in nature which involves the use of any network or networked device or computer as a means to commit such activity is known as cybercrime. It can be inferred from the definition that “computer” is the main element that is either used as a tool for directly committing a cyber crime or can be used to target other computers or devices. The former category which requires computers as a direct weapon involves the committing of crimes like cyber terrorism, pornography, Intellectual Property Rights Violations, etc. Whereas in the latter category crimes like hacking, virus attacks, etc are committed. Following is the process of filing a cyber crime complaint.

Cybercrime is a criminal activity that is carried on by the use of computers and the Internet. Some of the common cyber crimes are hacking, cyber stalking, denial of service attacks (DoS), virus dissemination, software piracy, credit card fraud & phishing.

To tackle the issue of cyber crimes, CIDs (Criminal Investigation Departments) of various cities opened up Cyber Crime Cells in different cities. The Information Technology Act of India states clearly that when a cyber crime has been committed, it has a global jurisdiction. and hence a complaint can be filed at any cyber cell.

Step-by-Step Procedures to File a Cyber Crime Complaint

Step 1- The foremost step is to lodge a complaint against cybercrime and the person who committed it with the cyber police or with the cyber cell India. Various departments for investigating crimes in various cities have been established by the cybercrime cells. These departments not only investigate the crime but also take charge of getting the crime reported in time. The victim can at any time make a complaint to the cyber police or with the crime investigating department of the cyber cell both through online or offline methods. One can also give a call to the cyber crime helpline number.

Step 2 -One may need to provide name, mailing address & telephone number along with an application letter addressing the head of a cyber crime investigation cell when filing a complaint.

Step 3 One must provide certain documents in order to register a complaint. The list of documents varies with the type of cybercrime. One requisite while registering the complaint is to attach or annex the documents which support the facts of the case fully. The type of documents required to be attached at the time of registering the cybercrime complaint depends on the nature of the cybercrime committed.

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Register your cyber crime complaint with Cyber Intelligence Alliance. This is not a proxy for a Police Complaint. CIA collects all the data submitted voluntarily and then pass on to state police, cyber cells, and any other investigating agencies. CIA will follow up with them and update you if there is any progress. CIA makes no promise as to what results will be achieved except that they make it more difficult for cyber criminals who seek to operate with impunity at present.

Click on the below-mentioned links to learn more on the related topic:

Documents required to file a complaint

Documents required to be annexed while reporting a complaint about hacking

Server logs
if the website of the victim has been defaced, then both soft copy and hard copy of the defaced web page.
a soft copy of the original data and the compromised data, if the data has been hacked on either the victim’s computer, server or any other equipment.
Details like the name of the accused/person who accessed the victim’s computer system or his email for accessing the victim’s computer or email.
There can be chances that a victim might find some person suspicious, then the list of people who he found to be suspect.
Other relevant information to answer the following questions –

Which data was compromised and who might be responsible for doing that?
At what time did the system compromise and what was the reason for the system compromise?
Where is the impact of the attack-identifying the target system from the network?
How many systems were compromised by the attack?

Documents required for filing a complaint against vulgar emails

Headers of email which are offending.
Both soft and hard copies of offending emails/emails.
Copy of the offending email from your inbox and one from the hard drive.

Documents required for filing a complaint against social media-based complaints

A copy clearly shows the alleged profile.
Copy showing the URL of the alleged content or profile.
Both hard and soft copies of the alleged content.
Soft copy to be provided in a CD-R.

Documents required for filing a complaint against Net banking/ATM Complaints

Copy of Bank statement from the concerned bank for the last six months.
Copy of SMSs received related to the alleged transactions.
Both copies of your ID proof and address proof as shown in the bank records.

Documents required for filing a complaint against business emails

A brief clarifying the offense in writing,
name, and location of origin,
bank name and account number of origin,
and name of the recipient as per his/her bank records.
bank account number of the recipient.
bank location of the recipient, this is optional.
Date of transaction.
Amount of transaction.
SWIFT number.

Documents required for filing data theft complaints

It is required that a copy of the data stolen has to be filed.
The certificate showing copyright over the allegedly stolen data, i.e., copyright certificate of the stolen data.
Details of the employee/ employees who are suspected.

Letter of Appointment of the suspected employee

Non-disclosure Agreement of the above-said employee.
Assigned list of duties.
List of clients handled by the suspects.
The proof that the copyrighted data has been breached.
Devices used by the accused during his/her term of service.

Cyber Crime Complaint Online

In the past decades, the advancement in technology and the number of internet users have grown at a great pace and up to a great extent. With the increase in the use of the internet, it is obvious that there will be cons for excessive use as well. In lieu of excessive use certain crimes online are also committed and thus, for the protection of the victim, it is necessary to have provisions for registering the complaint and intimating the officials about the commission of the crime to punish the accused.

Step 1

One can submit a complaint for cybercrime both offline and online. Cyber Cell India is the department that deals with online and offline cyber complaints and thus, the first step is to report the complaint to this department. One can also give a call to the cyber crime helpline number. You can visit here to file an online cybercrime complaint.

Step 2

A written complaint has to be filed with the cyber crime cell by the victim in the city he or she is in. But since cyber crime comes under the purview of the global jurisdiction thus, it is implied from this that one can file a cyber complaint in the cyber crime cell of any city irrespective of the fact that the person originates from some other cities in India.

Step 3

The following information is required to be given by the victim at the time of filing the complaint with the cyber cell-

Name of the victim/person filing the complaint,
His contact details,
Address for mailing.

The written complaint shall be addressed to the head of the department.

Step 4

In case of no access to the cyber cell India, one can report the matter to the local police station by filing a First Information Report. If the complaint due to any reason does not get accepted in the police station then in that case one can approach the judicial magistrate or the commissioner.

Step 5

One can also file a First Information Report under the provision of the Indian Penal Code if the offense falls under this Code. it is an obligation of every police officer to lodge the complaint as it has been made mandatory under section 154 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

Since most of the cyber crimes under the Indian Penal Code are classified under the category of cognizable offenses, thus, there is no requirement for any warrant to arrest the accused because cognizable offenses are those offenses for the purpose of carrying out the investigation or for making an arrest there is no requirement of any warrant.

The Ministry of Home Affairs is in lieu of establishing and launching a centralized online cyber crime registration portal. The purpose is to remove the requirement of moving to the police station for lodging any cybercrime complaint.
An online portal for the registration of Cybercrime online has been launched by the Cyber crime cell of the Delhi police.
You can visit it here.

How to Register Cyber Crime Complaint With Cyber Cell of Police – Online Complaint Procedure