One of my clients recently had a case which I am explaining below and if you are stuck in such similar situation, here is what to do.
Note: Due to attorney-client privilege, I cannot disclose complete case details or identify the actual parties involved. However, I am sharing the essential facts and legal approach so that if you find yourself in a similar situation, you can understand the available solutions and legal remedies.
TL;DR: A cheating complaint in a case like this is not a cybercrime matter merely because money moved through cards and UPI. The correct route is an FIR at the police station where the deception actually happened, under Section 318(4) BNS for cheating, backed by transaction records and chats. If the police stall or refuse, you can escalate to the Superintendent of Police and then to the Magistrate.
The last message read like the twenty before it. Pay me tonight.
By then the client, a software engineer working out of Indore, had handed close to ₹5 lakh to a bike-taxi rider, and most of it had come off his own credit cards.
It started in the last week of July 2025. He was in Pune for a few days, booked a ride to Baner, and got talking to the rider, Manoj Kadam, who said he was from Nashik and drove part-time. They met again the next day. By the third meeting, Kadam was saying a credit card bill was due that same evening and would be cleared by morning. The client let him use his ICICI Bank card and passed on the OTPs as they came. Then came an Apple iPhone 16 Pro, roughly ₹90,000, bought on the promise of a discount. Then a road accident near a flyover, a death, a family demanding a settlement, and about ₹1.6 lakh. Then a leaked-photo blackmail story, and another ₹1 lakh.
Nothing came back. A cybercrime portal complaint went nowhere useful. Officials there said the matter belonged to a regular police station, because the two men had met in person.
The client then approached the Chamber of Advocate Sudhir Rao. The file was handled as a cheating and criminal breach of trust case from the start, not as a portal complaint. An FIR was registered and the investigation was taken up. That shift in framing, based on Advocate Sudhir Rao's work in financial offence matters, is what moved a stalled complaint forward.
Key Facts of the Case
- Ride booked through a bike-taxi app in Baner, Pune, in the last week of July 2025. The rider, Manoj Kadam, claimed to be from Nashik.
- Total loss approximately ₹5 lakh, mostly charged to the client's credit cards rather than paid from savings.
- Break-up: credit card bill payments, an Apple iPhone 16 Pro purchase of about ₹90,000, about ₹1.6 lakh for a claimed accident settlement, and about ₹1 lakh for a claimed blackmail payout.
- OTPs were shared voluntarily. That weakens any claim against the bank, but it does not weaken the criminal case against the rider.
- A cybercrime portal complaint was filed first and redirected to the local
Key Facts (continued)
- A cybercrime portal complaint was filed first and redirected to the local police station, on the reasoning that the two men had met in person and the deception had happened face to face. Portals are built for remote, anonymous frauds. This was not one.
- The OTPs were shared willingly, so the bank's liability is limited. The criminal case is against the rider, not against ICICI Bank.
- Two separate losses run side by side: the money that left the account, and the card dues still owed to the bank every month.
The Right Section: Cheating Under Section 318(4) BNS
Section 318(4) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 is the provision that fits. It covers a person who cheats and by that deception dishonestly induces the person deceived to deliver property. Punishment runs up to seven years, with fine. It is the successor to Section 420 of the Indian Penal Code, and the ingredients are the same: a false representation, made knowingly, with the intent to deceive, on which the victim actually relies and parts with property.
Every stage of this file satisfies that. The card bill that "would be cleared by morning" was false. The discounted iPhone was false. The accident, the death, the family demanding a settlement — false. The blackmail story — false. And each lie was followed by a payment.
Why the argument on the blackmail story matters
Money extracted by a threat is ordinarily extortion, punishable under Section 308 BNS, and a threat of injury is criminal intimidation under Section 351 BNS. Here the threat itself was manufactured. That makes it one more act of cheating rather than a separate offence, though a charge sheet can carry both if the investigation shows the threat was real. Which is which depends entirely on what the call records and chats show, and we do not have the other side of that.
Why the IT Act will not carry this case
People hear "money moved online" and reach for Section 66D of the Information Technology Act, 2000 — cheating by personation using a computer resource. It rarely sticks here. Section 66D needs the accused to personate someone using a computer or communication device. Kadam did not impersonate the client; he talked the client into handing over the card and the OTP. The computer was the instrument, not the identity. Section 66C, identity theft, is further away still. An FIR can list the IT Act sections, and police often do, but the spine of the case is Section 318(4) BNS.
Where criminal breach of trust fits, and where it does not
Criminal breach of trust under Section 316 BNS requires the accused to have been entrusted with property, or with dominion over it. That works for the card payments if a court reads the arrangement as an entrustment for a specific purpose — pay the bill, the money comes back. It works less well for a straight false story that produces a transfer, because there the client was deceived rather than trusting. Charging both is common and permissible; the two are not mutually exclusive, and the facts decide which survives.
Where Do I File a Cheating Complaint?
This is the question that stopped the client for three weeks, and it is the question the cybercrime portal answered wrongly for him. A cheating complaint goes to the police station that has territorial jurisdiction — normally the place where the deception was practised and the property delivered.
The police station with jurisdiction
For this file that meant the police station covering Baner in Pune, where the ride was booked, the meetings happened, and the card was used. Some police stations will argue that jurisdiction sits where the money finally landed, especially if it went to an account in another state. Courts have generally rejected that in cheating cases — the offence is complete where the victim was induced to part with the property. That said, jurisdiction disputes in cross-state cheating matters do get raised, and the answer is not always clean. It depends on where each act of inducement and each payment physically occurred.
Zero FIR if the right station is far away
You do not have to travel first. A zero FIR can be registered at any police station, which then transfers the papers to the station with jurisdiction. The BNSS also permits information to be given electronically, with the informant signing the record within three days. In practice, walking into the nearest station with a written complaint and the transaction printouts is faster than anything online.
What the cybercrime portal is actually for
The National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal is useful for freezing a beneficiary account quickly in remote frauds. It is not a substitute for an FIR in a case where the accused is a known person met in the physical world. The client's portal complaint was correctly redirected, but redirecting took time and bought the rider nothing but a delay.
If the police do not register
Three steps, in order, and each one should be done in writing:
- Give a written complaint at the police station and ask for the receipt or the FIR number. Keep the acknowledgement.
- If the station refuses or stalls, send the substance of the information in writing and by post to the Superintendent of Police of the district under Section 173 BNSS. If the SP is satisfied, the SP can investigate or direct a subordinate officer to do so.
- If that also produces nothing, file a complaint before the Judicial Magistrate under Section 175(3) BNSS asking for a direction to investigate. The Magistrate can order it.
The limitation on the third step is practical rather than legal: delay in filing works against you, and chats that have been deleted are hard to prove later. Move within weeks, not months.
What to Preserve, and What to Bring
Evidence in a cheating case is documentary and it dies quietly. In this file, the following mattered:
- Bank and credit card statements showing each debit, with the merchant name where available.
- UPI transaction IDs, which are traceable even when the beneficiary account is in another state.
- The chat thread, exported with timestamps rather than screenshotted in pieces. Take a full export before anything is deleted.
- Call detail records, and the ride history from the bike-taxi app showing the rider's registration and the trips.
- The invoice and IMEI of the iPhone, plus the delivery address it was sent to.
- SMS alerts for the OTPs, and the dates and times they were generated.
Bring copies, not originals, to the police station, and keep originals for court. A written complaint of two pages, with a table of dates and amounts at the end, is worth more than a thick bundle with no order to it. Also useful: the police, once the FIR is registered, can ask the bank to flag the beneficiary accounts, and freezing early is the only realistic route to getting any money back.
How Long Does This Take, and Will the Money Come Back?
Honestly: the investigation will run for months, and recovery is uncertain. There is no limitation period for a cognizable offence, but there is a statutory clock on custody — if the accused is arrested and the charge sheet is not filed within sixty or ninety days depending on the punishment, the accused becomes entitled to default bail. In a cheating case of this kind, arrest often does not happen at all in the early stage, and the accused is questioned and released on notice.
Freezing and recovery
If any part of the ₹5 lakh is still sitting in a beneficiary account, that is the only money with a real chance of coming back. It has to be moved on quickly, through the police and the bank, and even then it is contested because other complainants may be claiming the same balance. Money already withdrawn and spent is rarely recovered. Where a trial ends in conviction, the court can order return or disposal of the property seized, and the victim compensation scheme under the BNSS exists on paper, though payouts are slow.
The card dues are a separate problem
Whichever way the criminal case goes, the credit card bill remains payable to ICICI Bank. The RBI's customer protection framework on unauthorised electronic transactions gives a customer zero liability only when the fraud is the bank's fault. Where the customer shared the OTP, the customer bears the loss until the bank is notified. That is a hard sentence to read, and it is the honest one. The card issuer should still be put on written notice immediately, because some relief depends on when you reported, and the EMI position should be discussed with the bank rather than left to accrue.
When There May Be Nothing to Argue
If the payments were voluntary and the only proof is a chat thread without clear promises attached to clear amounts, the case weakens considerably. If the rider's version is that these were personal loans, and the messages are ambiguous, the dispute starts to look civil rather than criminal, and a court may say so. If the OTPs were shared over a period of weeks without a single complaint, the defence will ask why. None of this means there is no case. It means the case turns on the documentary trail, and it is worth having someone read the chats before the complaint is drafted, not after.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I file a cheating complaint where I live, or where the money was paid?
Usually where the deception happened and the property was delivered. That is often where you live if the inducement happened there. If the accused is in another state and the money moved elsewhere, expect a jurisdiction argument, and file a zero FIR if you need to start somewhere immediately.
Does sharing an OTP destroy my case?
Against the bank, largely yes. Against the person who talked you into sharing it, no. Section 318(4) BNS asks whether you were deceived into delivering property; it does not require the delivery to have been secure.
Can I file a cheating complaint online?
You can give information electronically under the BNSS and you must sign the record within three days. In a case involving a person you met face to face, the portal will route you back to a police station anyway, so a written complaint at the station is the shorter road.
What if the police refuse to register my cheating complaint?
Get the refusal in writing if you can, then escalate to the Superintendent of Police under Section 173 BNSS. If that fails, apply to the Magistrate under Section 175(3) BNSS for a direction to investigate.
Can I recover the ₹5 lakh?
Only the portion still traceable in a beneficiary account, and only if it is frozen early. The rest depends on conviction and recovery proceedings, which are slow and uneven. Anyone who tells you the full amount will come back is guessing.
What to Do Next
If you are in this position, put together three things before you contact anyone: a copy of the FIR or portal acknowledgement if one exists, a dated table of every payment with the transaction reference, and a two-line note on what you were told before each payment. That last one is what separates cheating from a loan dispute, and it is the first thing that will be read.
Send them to the chamber through /contact-us or book a slot at /book. If the chats do not support a criminal case, you will be told that plainly rather than after a year of proceedings.
This article is general information on Indian law and is not legal advice on your own situation. Every case turns on its own facts and documents.
Advocate Sudhir Rao, Supreme Court of India
Facing a similar matter? Speak to a criminal advocate in Delhi — Advocate Sudhir Rao appears in bail, trial and appellate matters before the Delhi District Courts, the Delhi High Court and the Supreme Court of India.