Claim held money
Money frozen after a cyber fraud? How to claim it.
If your complaint led to money being held in the account it went to, that money is not refunded automatically. You have to claim it. Below is how, what each amount band needs, and where to check what is actually held.
How to claim held money
Step 1 of 4
Find out what is actually held
Ask the investigating officer on your complaint how much has been held, and in which account. The held amount is often less than the amount you lost, and every step after this one depends on the real figure rather than the one you reported.
Step 2 of 4
Raise a refund request
Where your case qualifies, the request is raised on the Money Restoration Module, using your complaint acknowledgement number and the bank account you want the money credited to. Keep the request id it gives you.
Step 3 of 4
Give the officer your proof
The officer has to be able to trace the held money to your complaint. That means your own records, not a description of what happened. Get a receipt or acknowledgement for anything you hand over, and keep a copy of all of it.
Take these with you
Step 4 of 4
Track it, and keep a record of every date
Check the status on the portal, and write down each date you called, visited or submitted something, with the name of who you spoke to. A case that stalls is almost always restarted from those dates.
What your amount changes
The procedure is not the same above and below ₹50,000. Check your held amount (not the amount you lost) against these, and ask the investigating officer which route your case is on.
Below ₹50,000
This is the band the January 2026 SOP was written to speed up. A refund at this level can be processed without a court order, through the officer handling your complaint.
- No court order needed for the refund itself
- Proof that the money was yours, and that it is traceable to your complaint
- An indemnity bond, in some cases: ask the officer whether yours needs one
₹50,000 and above
The police-led route is still available, but it carries more conditions, and a registered FIR is normally the first of them. Where the police route does not fit, the case can go to court instead.
- A registered FIR in the case
- Transaction evidence, and proof of what you lost
- Senior officer approval, where the case requires it
- An indemnity bond and an undertaking, in some cases
Exactly ₹50,000
Do not assume which side of the line you are on. Ask the investigating officer which route applies to your case, and get the answer before you prepare documents for either one.
Four things to be clear about
Frozen money is not refunded automatically
A complaint can stop the money moving. Getting it back to you is a separate request, with its own documents.
The held amount may be a fraction of your loss
Money usually moves through several accounts quickly. What is held is whatever was still sitting there when the hold reached it.
One account can hold several victims' money
Where it does, how the amount is divided may have to be decided by a court rather than by the officer on your case.
Reporting early is what makes any of this possible
There is nothing to claim if nothing was held. The first hours after the money leaves are when a hold can still catch it.
Where to check your case
Two official destinations, and they do different jobs. One carries the complaint; the other is where a release is asked for and tracked.
cybercrime.gov.in
National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal: I4C, Ministry of Home Affairs
Where the complaint lives, and where its status is shown. This is the system a 1930 call feeds into, and the acknowledgement number every later step asks for comes from here.
cybercrime.gov.inMoney Restoration Module
Ministry of Home Affairs: reached through the national portal
Where a request to release a held amount is raised and tracked, using your complaint acknowledgement number. What you can do here depends on the stage your case has reached.
mrm-ncrp.mha.gov.in