What is a cybercrime portal? Here's how to check complaint status online

The National Cyber Crime Reporting portal is a citizen-centric initiative that enables citizens to report cybercrimes online

Home Minister Amit Shah on January 10, 2020 inaugurated the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) and the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal.

The portal enables citizens to report cybercrimes online and it was launched in to counter the rampant increase in the number of such cases. The national cyber crime reporting centre is located in New Delhi. 

According to a report, all the cyber crime-related complaints will be accessed by the concerned law enforcement agencies in the states and UTs for taking action as per law.

The portal looks takes up complaints about child pornography (CP), child sexual abuse material (CSAM) or sexually explicit content such as rape/ gang rape (CP/RGR). It also registers complaints against– mobile crimes, social media crimes, financial frauds, ransomware, hacking, cryptocurrency crimes and other cyber trafficking.

According to a 2021 report published in Outlook India, the cybercrime portal recorded over 400,000 complaints in less than a year and half of these complaints were related to financial frauds.

Information required to file a complaint

For filing a complaint on the cybercrime portal, log on to cybercrime.gov.in. Click on file a complaint and click on a new user and enter all the required details, including your state and mobile number, along with your e-mail address.

Alternatively, you can also register a complaint anonymously through the portal.

The cybercrime department also released a toll-free helpline number, i.e. 155260. Users can make a call from 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM.

Here's how you can check the status of cybercrime complaint online:

• Go to the website of the cybercrime portal- cybercrime.gov.in

• On the homepage, click on the tab that reads 'check status'

• Enter the complaint ID. Alternatively, you can search from the request date

• Your complaint status will be displayed on the screen