Cyber Crime Advocate in Hyderabad

Lost money to an online fraud? Call 1930 straight away and report on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (cybercrime.gov.in). Then read on. Reporting quickly matters both for tracing the money and, as explained below, for what your bank must refund.

Musab Hashmi & Associates practises in cyber crime and cyber law in Hyderabad and Telangana, including online fraud, frozen bank accounts, online harassment and defamation, cyber cases against individuals, and business cyber incidents. This page explains how these matters work in Hyderabad. It is general legal information, not legal advice.

Areas of practice · Where to complain in Hyderabad · Bank refunds · Frozen accounts · Digital arrest scams · Sextortion and intimate images · If you are accused · How matters proceed

Areas of practice: cyber crime and cyber law

The law behind these matters, including IT Act offences, CERT-In reporting and the DPDP Act timeline, is explained in our guide to cyber law in Hyderabad.

Where to complain in Hyderabad

Greater Hyderabad is policed by more than one commissionerate, and each has its own cyber crime unit. The official Telangana Police website lists the Hyderabad, Cyberabad, Malkajgiri and Future City commissionerates.

These loss thresholds are how the police units describe their own practice on their websites, as checked on 25 October 2026. They are not set by law and may change. Information about a cognizable offence can also be given at any police station, irrespective of where the offence took place, and information given electronically must be signed within three days (Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, section 173). Under section 78 of the IT Act, offences under that Act are investigated by a police officer not below the rank of Inspector.

Getting money back from your bank

RBI rules limit what a customer loses in an unauthorised electronic banking transaction, and the reporting deadline is short. The rules change for transactions from 1 January 2027.

For transactions before 1 January 2027 (rules issued by RBI from 2017, since consolidated into RBI’s 2025 Responsible Business Conduct Directions):

• if the bank was at fault, your liability is zero regardless of when you report; if the loss was due to your own negligence, such as sharing credentials, you bear it until you report;
• where the fraud is due to a third-party breach and you notify the bank within three working days of receiving the bank’s alert, your liability is zero;
• if you notify within four to seven working days, your liability is limited to the transaction value or a fixed cap of Rs 5,000, Rs 10,000 or Rs 25,000 depending on the type of account, whichever is lower; beyond seven working days, the bank’s board-approved policy applies;
• the bank must credit the amount to your account (a “shadow reversal”) within 10 working days of your notification;
• the complaint must be resolved and liability decided within 90 days, failing which you must be compensated as if your liability were as set out above; the burden of proving customer liability is on the bank.

For transactions on or after 1 January 2027 (RBI amendment directions of 24 June 2026, issued separately for commercial, small finance, payments, local area, regional rural, urban co-operative and rural co-operative banks):

• zero liability for a third-party breach requires reporting to the bank within five calendar days of the transaction;
• a transaction you approved under coercion or duress from a third party counts as a fraudulent transaction;
• the bank must resolve the complaint within 45 days for domestic transactions and 60 days for cross-border ones;
• where the loss was caused by the customer’s own negligence and is up to Rs 50,000, a one-time compensation of 85 percent of the net loss or Rs 25,000, whichever is less, is available once in a lifetime, if you reported to the cyber crime portal or 1930 and to the bank within five calendar days. It applies to individuals (including sole proprietors) whose loss the bank accepts as genuine, and only for frauds in the first year of the new rules.

In practice, report to 1930, to the bank in writing and on the cyber crime portal on the same day, and keep the acknowledgement numbers.

If your bank account has been frozen

A bank account can be frozen in a cyber complaint when money traced from a fraud is credited to it. TGCSB lists freezing bank accounts as part of its work.

• Seizure by police: under section 106 of the BNSS, a police officer may seize property alleged or suspected to have been stolen, or found in circumstances that create suspicion of an offence, and must report the seizure to the Magistrate.
• Attachment by the court: under section 107 of the BNSS, police apply, with the approval of the Superintendent or Commissioner of Police, to the Court or Magistrate to attach proceeds of crime. The Court or Magistrate may issue a notice to show cause within 14 days before an attachment order, though an interim order can be made without notice where notice would defeat the purpose. Property found to be proceeds of crime is distributed to the people affected through the District Magistrate.
• Release: Cyberabad and Malkajgiri police publish dedicated email addresses for frozen accounts on their official websites (as checked on 25 October 2026). The first step is to find out from the bank which police unit and complaint number the freeze relates to.

“Digital arrest” scams

The Ministry of Home Affairs has warned about “digital arrest” scams, in which, in some cases, victims are kept on Skype or other video calls by people posing as police, CBI, NCB, RBI or Enforcement Directorate officials (alert of 14 May 2024). A Ministry of Home Affairs press release of 27 October 2024 reports the Prime Minister reminding citizens that no government agency conducts investigations via phone or video calls.

If you are on such a call, disconnect, do not transfer money, and report to 1930. If money has already been transferred, report it to the bank and to 1930 at once. Whether the bank must refund depends on how the transaction is classified. From 1 January 2027, a transfer you approved under coercion counts as a fraudulent transaction.

Sextortion and intimate images

• Extortion: making someone hand over money by putting them in fear is extortion under section 308 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, punishable with up to seven years, or fine, or both, and up to ten years where the fear is of death, grievous hurt or an accusation of an offence punishable with death, life imprisonment or up to ten years. Making such a threat to extort money is itself punishable under section 308(3), and more severely under 308(4) or (6) for threats of death, grievous hurt or a serious accusation, even if nothing is paid.
• Voyeurism: watching, capturing or spreading images of a woman in a private act is punishable under BNS section 77; consent to capture an image is not consent to spread it.
• Stalking: a man monitoring a woman’s internet, email or electronic communication commits stalking under BNS section 78.
• IT Act: capturing or publishing images of a person’s private area without consent (section 66E), and publishing obscene or sexually explicit material (sections 67 and 67A), are offences.
• Takedown: under the IT Rules, as amended up to 10 February 2026, a platform must take reasonable steps to remove or disable access within two hours of a complaint about content showing a person’s private area, nudity or sexual acts, or impersonating them, including morphed images.

Do not pay, keep the messages and the account details of the person threatening you, and report on the cyber crime portal, which the Ministry of Home Affairs describes as having a special focus on cyber crimes against women and children. TGCSB has a unit for cybercrime against women and children.

If you have received a notice or are accused

A person named in a cyber complaint has legal protections, including the following. For offences punishable with up to seven years, police are to issue a notice to appear where arrest is not necessary, and a person who complies is not to be arrested unless the officer records reasons. Offences under the IT Act punishable with three years are bailable, and those of three years and above are cognizable (IT Act section 77B). Read our guide on your rights if police arrest or summon you before attending a police station.

How cyber matters generally proceed

1. Identifying the forum: which police unit, which bank or platform, and whether a Magistrate or the High Court needs to be approached.
2. Written complaints and representations: to the police, the bank, the platform’s grievance officer and, for businesses, CERT-In.
3. Court steps where needed: applications before the Magistrate on seized or attached money, bail, or a writ petition in the High Court where a public authority has acted unlawfully or failed to act.

Every matter depends on its facts and on the records available. No particular outcome or timeline can be promised.

Documents to keep

• screenshots of chats, profiles, websites and apps, with the URL or handle visible;
• transaction IDs, bank SMS and emails, and account statements showing the debit;
• the 1930 acknowledgement, the cyber crime portal complaint number and any FIR;
• your written complaint to the bank and its reply;
• any police notice, freeze intimation or court order;
• a short timeline with dates and times.

Do not delete chats or uninstall apps before the evidence is preserved, and never share passwords or OTPs with anyone, including someone claiming to help recover money.

Related guides

• Cyber fraud: the first 48 hours
• Bank account frozen in a cyber complaint: how to get it released
• Digital arrest scam: what to do and where to report
• Sextortion in Hyderabad: what to do and the law
• Cyber law in Hyderabad: IT Act, CERT-In and the DPDP Act
• Your rights if police arrest or summon you in Telangana
• How to file a writ petition in the Telangana High Court

General legal information, not legal advice. Police unit details are as published on the official Telangana Police, Hyderabad City Police, Cyberabad Police, Malkajgiri Police and TGCSB websites, RBI rules as published on rbi.org.in, and Ministry of Home Affairs press releases on pib.gov.in, checked on 25 October 2026. Statutory provisions are from the gazette texts of the BNSS, the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the IT Act; IT Rules as consolidated by MeitY up to 10 February 2026. Verify the current position before acting.