Cyber crime complaint status 'pending'? How to track an NCRP complaint and what to do next

AI-generated editorial illustration by CyberShitty. Not a photograph or a document from the organisations named.

Your acknowledgement number is the key to your complaint. Here is how to track it on cybercrime.gov.in, what happens behind the status screen, what the labels do and don't tell you, and how to escalate when nothing moves.

01 / How to track your complaint

Every complaint on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (NCRP) gets an acknowledgement number. The portal's FAQ says you receive it by SMS and email when you submit, and that you can use it to track progress by logging in to the portal.

Under the Home Ministry's January 2026 Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for the portal, this is a 14-digit number sent from an SMS sender ID ending in "NCRP". Numbers issued for complaints filed on the portal start with 2. Numbers issued for complaints made by phone to 1930 start with 3. If you called 1930, the SMS asks you to add the full details of the fraud on cybercrime.gov.in using that number. Do this: a phone ticket on its own is thin.

• Open cybercrime.gov.in and choose Track your Complaint.
• Enter the acknowledgement number, the OTP sent to your registered mobile, and the captcha.
• Save a screenshot of the result every time you check it.

02 / What happens behind the status screen

NCRP is mainly a system for taking in complaints and passing them on. The portal's FAQ says complaints are handled by the police of the state or UT you select. The Home Ministry told Parliament in July 2026 that turning complaints into FIRs, arrests and chargesheets is the job of state police.

For financial fraud, the SOP sets out this sequence:

• Your complaint goes to the state and district nodal officers and to the police station concerned.
• A police officer checks that it is a cyber-enabled financial crime and submits it to the Citizen Financial Cyber Fraud Reporting and Management System (CFCFRMS).
• Notices go to every bank and intermediary on the money trail, telling them to put the reported amount on hold. If the money has already left the banking system, for example as an ATM withdrawal or a crypto purchase, the exit is recorded instead.
• If an amount is held, you should get an SMS and email with a link explaining how release works.
• Where money is to be returned, an FIR or e-FIR may be registered.

03 / What the status labels mean, and what nobody has defined

Be careful here. The portal's FAQ does not explain what the individual status labels mean, and we found no official glossary. Anyone who gives you a precise official meaning for "pending" or "under process" is going beyond what the Home Ministry has published.

Legal-help sites give working explanations, which you should treat as informal:

• Pending, under process or assigned: generally read as the complaint having been routed and waiting for police action.
• FIR registered: an FIR number exists. An NCRP complaint on its own is not an FIR.
• Closed or disposed: RTI Wiki, a legal-help site, says this usually marks the handover to police, not a ruling that nothing happened. It does not stop you seeking an FIR.

The most useful signal is the hold message from the bank or portal, because that tells you money has actually been frozen.

04 / If money is on hold

Held money does not come back to you automatically. You have to apply, either online through the Home Ministry's Money Restoration Module or through a court. Our guide Money on hold after a 1930 complaint explains both routes.

The SOP also says plainly that if the account your money went to is empty, or holds less than the disputed amount, the bank is not expected to repay you from it. What stays traceable depends on how fast you reported, which is why the first hour matters so much.

05 / If nothing moves: how to escalate

• Call 1930 with your acknowledgement number and ask which police station or cyber cell your complaint was sent to.
• Visit that station with a printout of the acknowledgement and your evidence. Hand in a short written application asking for the status and, for a cognizable offence such as cheating, registration of an FIR. Get a stamped copy as your receipt.
• Write to the Superintendent of Police (or the DCP Cyber in a commissionerate). Section 173(4) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) lets a person whose information was refused by the officer in charge of a police station send it in writing, by post, to the SP. If that fails, the same section allows an application to a Magistrate.
• File an RTI with the police district asking what action was taken and where the complaint was sent. Details of a live investigation can be withheld.
• Keep the bank route running alongside: a written complaint to your bank, then the RBI Ombudsman. See our money recovery guide.

If the case is large or complicated, consider consulting a lawyer before you go to a Magistrate.

06 / Your checklist

• Keep the 14-digit acknowledgement number and the SMS it came in.
• If you called 1930, add the full details on cybercrime.gov.in.
• Check the status with the number and OTP, and screenshot each check.
• Look out for a separate hold SMS or email.
• Find out which station has the case and follow up in writing.
• If you are refused, write to the SP under Section 173(4) BNSS.
• Pursue your bank complaint at the same time.
• Never pay anyone who offers to "speed up" your status.