How-To · Cyber Fraud · Last verified October 2026
How to Report Identity Theft (2026)
Identity theft means someone is using you, your Aadhaar or PAN, your cards, or a loan or account opened in your name, to commit fraud. It can show up as a loan you never took, a credit card bill from nowhere, a SIM that stops working, or an account opened with your documents. The response works on two fronts at once: report the crime, and lock down the documents and accounts being misused. This guide sets out the steps, the law, and how to limit the damage. It is general information, not legal advice. Last verified October 2026.
- Two fronts: report the crime, and at the same time lock down the misused documents and accounts.
- Report: file on cybercrime.gov.in, call 1930 if money is lost, and lodge an FIR or Zero FIR.
- Contain: tell banks and card issuers in writing, lock Aadhaar with UIDAI, and secure your SIM, email and passwords.
- Credit: pull your credit report, raise a fraud alert or freeze, and dispute loans taken in your name with the FIR.
- Law: Section 66C of the IT Act punishes identity theft; Section 66D punishes cheating by personation.
01The short answer
Report identity theft and contain it at the same time:
- Report on cybercrime.gov.in, call 1930 if money is lost, and lodge an FIR.
- Tell every affected bank, card issuer and lender in writing to freeze or dispute the fraud.
- Raise a credit bureau alert or freeze so no new loan can be taken in your name.
- Lock your Aadhaar with UIDAI and secure your email, SIM and passwords.
Speed limits the damage. The FIR and portal report are the proof you will need to reverse fraudulent loans and accounts, so get them on record early.
02Act on two fronts
Identity theft needs two parallel responses. The criminal front is reporting the offence so it can be investigated and so you have documented proof you were a victim. The containment front is stopping the ongoing misuse: freezing accounts, blocking further loans, and locking the documents being used.
Do not wait for one before starting the other. The containment steps limit new losses, while the criminal report gives you the FIR copy that banks and lenders ask for before they reverse a fraudulent transaction or write off a loan taken in your name.
03Report the crime
File a complaint on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal at cybercrime.gov.in, and if you have lost money, call 1930 so the beneficiary account can be flagged. Then lodge an FIR at a police station. Identity theft is a cognisable matter, and if your local station declines on jurisdiction, insist on a Zero FIR, which any station must register and transfer.
Keep the complaint acknowledgement and the FIR copy safe; they are your core proof. For the general reporting walk through, see how to report cyber crime and online fraud and how to file a cyber crime complaint.
04Lock down documents and accounts
Contain the misuse fast:
- Banks and card issuers: tell each one in writing, dispute the fraudulent transactions, and block or reissue cards.
- Aadhaar: lock your Aadhaar or lock your biometrics through UIDAI, so it cannot be used for authentication.
- SIM and email: if your SIM stopped working it may be a SIM swap, so contact the operator at once, and secure your email with a new password and two factor authentication.
- Passwords: change passwords on key accounts and remove any unknown devices or sessions.
For an unauthorised bank transaction specifically, reporting to your bank within the RBI timeline protects your liability. See how to recover money from a fraudulent bank transaction.
05Credit bureaus and loans in your name
If a loan or credit card was taken in your name, the credit bureaus are central. Pull your credit report to see every account opened on your identity, then raise a fraud alert or freeze with the bureaus so no new credit can be sanctioned without extra verification.
Dispute each fraudulent account directly with the lender and the bureau, attaching the FIR and the portal acknowledgement. A loan obtained by impersonation is not your liability, but you will need the criminal report on record to have it reversed and removed from your credit history.
06The law on identity theft
Identity theft is a specific offence. Under Section 66C of the Information Technology Act, 2000, fraudulently or dishonestly using another person electronic signature, password or other unique identification feature is punishable with imprisonment up to three years and a fine up to one lakh rupees. Section 66D punishes cheating by personation using a computer resource.
Alongside these, cheating by personation under Section 319 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 and the forgery offences can apply where documents are faked, in the criminal code that replaced the Indian Penal Code. You do not need to cite the right section to report; the police classify the offence.
07Evidence to keep
Build a dated file from the start:
- The cybercrime complaint acknowledgement and the FIR copy.
- Statements and letters showing the fraudulent accounts, loans or transactions.
- Your credit report marking the accounts you did not open.
- All written communication with banks, lenders, the operator and the bureaus, in date order.
This file is what turns a complaint into a reversal. Each bank and lender will ask for the FIR and your written dispute before it undoes a fraudulent entry, so keep copies and send everything in writing.
08Where Claw fits
Claw is an all-in-one legaltech platform for Indian advocates, law firms, and corporate legal teams, combining AI-based case search, an AI legal assistant (Legal GPT), case management, and compliance automation across all Indian courts and tribunals.
Be clear on the limits. The report itself goes to the cybercrime portal and the police, and the containment steps go to your banks, UIDAI and the credit bureaus; Claw is not those filings and does not replace them. Where Claw helps is the dispute and case layer that follows: it tracks the resulting FIR led court matters, consumer and banking ombudsman escalations and appeals, across 9,102 courts, benches and forums, with alerts and monitoring, so a victim or an adviser can follow the matter as it moves. Its Legal GPT researches across 30 crore+ judgments, with Supreme Court decisions from 1950 and High Court decisions from 1990. Results return in under 5 seconds, and Claw does not train its AI models on your documents. To check whether a lender or company pursuing a fraudulent loan in your name has existing litigation, run a case search across Indian courts by name. A clean result means nothing was found on the forums and date searched, and this is general information, not legal advice.
Related reading: how to recover money from a fraudulent bank transaction, how to report cyber crime and online fraud, and how to respond to cyber defamation and get content taken down.
09Sources and further reading
- National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (and helpline 1930): cybercrime.gov.in
- India Code (Information Technology Act, 2000, Sections 66C and 66D): indiacode.nic.in
- UIDAI (lock Aadhaar and biometrics): uidai.gov.in
- Claw: clawlaw.in
This guide is general information, not legal advice. If money has been lost, report to 1930 and cybercrime.gov.in at once.
10Frequently asked questions
How do I report identity theft in India?
Act on two fronts at once. Report the crime on the cybercrime portal at cybercrime.gov.in, call 1930 if money has been lost, and lodge an FIR at a police station, insisting on a Zero FIR if yours declines on jurisdiction. At the same time, tell every affected bank, card issuer and lender in writing to freeze or dispute the fraud, raise a credit bureau alert or freeze, and lock your Aadhaar with UIDAI. Keep all acknowledgements and the FIR copy.
Which law covers identity theft in India?
Section 66C of the Information Technology Act, 2000 makes it an offence to fraudulently or dishonestly use another person electronic signature, password or other unique identification feature, punishable with imprisonment up to three years and a fine up to one lakh rupees. Section 66D punishes cheating by personation using a computer resource. Cheating by personation under Section 319 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 and forgery offences can also apply where documents are faked.
What do I do if a loan was taken in my name?
Pull your credit report to see every account opened on your identity, raise a fraud alert or freeze with the credit bureaus so no new credit is sanctioned without extra verification, and dispute each fraudulent account with the lender and the bureau, attaching your FIR and the cybercrime portal acknowledgement. A loan obtained by impersonation is not your liability, but you need the criminal report on record to have it reversed and removed from your credit history.
Can I lock my Aadhaar after identity theft?
Yes. You can lock your Aadhaar or lock your biometrics through UIDAI, so it cannot be used for authentication without you unlocking it. This is a sensible containment step if your Aadhaar number or a copy has been misused. Combine it with securing your email and SIM, because a SIM swap or a compromised email often sits behind identity theft, and change the passwords on your key accounts.
How long does it take to fix identity theft?
There is no fixed timeline, because it depends on how many accounts and lenders are involved and how fast each one acts on your dispute. What speeds it up is a clean, dated file: the cybercrime acknowledgement, the FIR copy, your credit report marking the fraudulent accounts, and written disputes to every bank and lender. Report early and keep everything in writing, because each lender will ask for the FIR before reversing a fraudulent loan or entry.