Cyber crime & IT Act advocate in Ernakulam

Coverage

What does this area cover?

• UPI, QR-code and OTP phishing — UPI collect-request, QR-swap, OTP, vishing, SIM-swap, WhatsApp-takeover and screen-share frauds, charged as cheating and cheating by personation under BNS ss.318 and 319 with IT Act ss.66C and 66D, together with bank disputes and RBI limited-liability claims.
• Investment, task, crypto, ransomware and BEC fraud — Telegram investment and task scams, fake trading apps, P2P crypto trades, wallet drains, romance-investment frauds, ransomware and business email compromise, with multi-hop lien requests, FIRs, CERT-In reporting within 6 hours for covered entities, and the defence of account holders and introducers.
• Bank account freeze, lien and mule-account allegations — Account freezes after NCRP complaints: a lien on one sum compared with a full debit-freeze, release of salary, pension and DBT accounts, merchant and gateway holds, mule-account allegations, and Magistrate release applications under BNSS ss.106, 497 and 503.
• Harassment, sextortion and defamation — Stalking (BNS s.78), voyeurism (s.77), extortion (s.308) and defamation (s.356), with IT Act ss.66E, 67 and 67A for sextortion, non-consensual intimate images, deepfakes, fake profiles and loan-app harassment, on both the complainant and the accused side.
• Intermediaries, evidence and search — Platform grievances and appeals to the Grievance Appellate Committee, s.69A blocking, INDRP complaints against look-alike domains, BSA s.63 certificates for electronic records, search and seizure under BNSS ss.105, 106 and 185, FSL requests and CDR disclosure through the investigating officer.

What should you do in the first hour after a UPI fraud?

Call 1930 first. The operator needs the transaction reference (UTR), the amount, the time, your bank and the recipient’s UPI ID or account number, so keep those in front of you rather than the whole story, and note the ticket number. Then file the same details on cybercrime.gov.in under financial fraud, and send a written dispute to your bank’s fraud desk. For a third-party breach, notice to the bank within 3 working days of its alert is what keeps customer liability at zero under the RBI directions.

Do not reset the phone, uninstall the app the caller asked you to install, or delete chats. Screenshots help, but the device and the original messages matter more, because a BSA s.63 certificate will be needed if the case goes to trial. If a second caller offers to recover the money for a fee, that is usually the same fraud returning. Then lodge a written complaint at the cyber police station, with a chronology that matches the NCRP and bank filings.

Do you act for complainants or for the accused?

Both. Complainants usually need the reporting sequence, a lien on the money trail, escalation under BNSS s.173(4) and s.175(3) when the police do not register or investigate, and later a claim before the bank, the RBI Integrated Ombudsman or the Adjudicating Officer. Account holders and accused persons usually come in after a freeze, a notice or an arrest: students and homemakers whose accounts were used as mule accounts, shopkeepers and freelancers paid with tainted UPI money, P2P crypto traders, and people named in harassment or defamation complaints after a relationship or business dispute ends. For them the work is a reply to the investigating officer with source documents, release of the untainted balance, bail or anticipatory bail, and discharge or quashing where the record shows no dishonest intent. The same evidence rules apply on both sides: complete records, not selected screenshots.

Recovering money after UPI fraud: fraudulent transfer and bank reversal

Money sent through a UPI app such as Google Pay or PhonePe after a fraud call, a QR-code swap or a shared OTP is traced through the 1930 helpline and the NCRP complaint, which ask banks to put a lien on the credit before it moves again. Reversal of the fraudulent transfer is then claimed from your own bank in writing: under the RBI’s customer-liability directions, prompt notice after an unauthorised electronic transaction is what keeps the customer’s liability low or nil, and an unresolved complaint goes to the RBI Integrated Ombudsman. Where the cyber police station does not act on the complaint, the Magistrate can be moved under Section 175(3) of the BNSS, and the High Court of Kerala in a writ petition. Complaints and bail matters are heard by the Chief Judicial Magistrate and Judicial First Class Magistrate courts at Ernakulam. See the UPI, QR-code and OTP fraud entries and what to do when a cyber complaint draws no action.

How it proceeds

How does a matter proceed?

1. Call 1930 and file on NCRP. Call 1930 with the UTR numbers, amounts and times, then file the same details on cybercrime.gov.in under the correct category. Both reference numbers start the lien on the recipient accounts.
2. Written complaints to the bank and police. A written dispute to the bank's fraud desk and a complaint under BNSS s.173 at the cyber police station, all carrying one chronology and the same transaction table.
3. Escalation when the police do not act. A complaint to the Superintendent of Police under BNSS s.173(4), then an affidavit-backed application to the Magistrate under s.175(3) for a direction to investigate.
4. Freeze, notice and custody stage. For account holders and accused persons: a reply to the investigating officer with source documents, a release application before the Magistrate, and bail or anticipatory bail where arrest is a real risk.
5. Parallel and High Court remedies. The RBI Integrated Ombudsman, the Adjudicating Officer under IT Act s.46, platform grievance and GAC appeals, and a writ or quash petition before the High Court of Kerala where the statutory route fails.

What should you keep ready?

• Bank statement for the period, with each disputed UTR marked
• 1930 ticket number, NCRP complaint number and the bank's dispute receipt
• Screenshots with URLs, phone numbers, UPI IDs and timestamps, plus full chat exports
• The phone or computer used, not reset, and original emails with full headers
• Any lien notice, police notice under BNSS s.35 or s.94, and letters from the investigating officer
• Proof of lawful source for disputed credits: invoices, salary slips, delivery records
• Identity proof and, for a business, the authority to act for it

Matters

Every matter, by group

Each matter type with its law, forum, procedure, documents and limitation clock. All 120 on one page →

• UPI, QR-code and OTP phishing 24
• Investment, task, crypto, ransomware and BEC fraud 24
• Bank account freeze, lien and mule-account allegations 24
• Harassment, sextortion and defamation 24
• Intermediaries, evidence and search 24