# Cricket ID and Agent Accounts: Why They Fail You

Source: https://cricketin.org/guides/cricket-id-and-agent-accounts

[By Ananya Rathi](/authors/legal-writer), Legal and Compliance Writer. [Reviewed by Rajeev Sathe](/authors/editor-in-chief), Editor-in-Chief. Updated 30 Aug 2026. Editorial policy: https://cricketin.org/editorial-policy

18+ Betting money on cricket carries a direct risk of financial loss, and it can become an addiction. Real-money online gaming is banned across India under the PROG Act 2025, which came into force on 1 May 2026.

If betting is already costing you money you need, or sleep, or people close to you, the free Tele-MANAS helpline is **14416**, and it runs in 20 languages. Our [page on help for gambling harm](/guides/help-for-gambling-harm-india) lists what else exists.

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How cricket ID and agent accounts work, who really holds your money, why no claim survives, and why there is nowhere to complain.

A cricket ID or agent account means you hold no account at all. Someone else holds one, and you are a line inside it. Your real money sits in their bank account. The balance you see is a figure they can edit ([NPCI UPI FAQ](https://www.npci.org.in/what-we-do/upi/faqs)).

So you have no named party, no terms, no statement and no regulator. This page shows what is missing. It shows why Section 23 of the Indian Contract Act, 1872 matters here. It also shows why the Ombudsman route cannot reach a private person.

## What the arrangement actually is

The offer sounds like a service. Someone gives you a user name and a password for a betting site. You pay that person. They add a balance. Later, you ask them for your money.

Strip out the words and one thing stands out. You never have an account. Someone else has the account, and you are a line inside it.

The names vary. Cricket ID, gaming ID, panel ID, agent account, master account. The set-up does not vary at all.

People pick it for plain reasons. It feels simpler. There is no long sign-up. Someone answers your messages fast. Those are real perks, and they are what you trade the rest for.

One feature of the set-up decides all of it. Your money and your name both sit behind a stranger. Everything on this page follows from that.

## Who is actually holding your money

Follow the money once, slowly. You send a payment to a person or a small firm. It lands in their bank account.

UPI is built to make that final. NPCI says a payment cannot be stopped once it starts, and the other side is paid at once ([NPCI UPI FAQ](https://www.npci.org.in/what-we-do/upi/faqs)). Our page on [how a UPI payment behaves](/guides/upi-and-online-gaming-payments) covers the mechanics.

Now a balance shows up on your screen. It is a number typed by the person you paid. It is not a deposit held anywhere.

So there are two things, not one. There is real money, which is in their account. And there is a figure on a screen, which is a promise. The figure can be edited. The money cannot be called back.

## The paperwork that does not exist

Set it against any bank you already use. The gap is not one missing item. It is the whole file.

**Table 1. A regulated relationship against an agent account**

| What you normally have | With a bank or payment app | With an agent account |
|---|---|---|
| A named counterparty | A licensed company with a registered address | A phone number and a display name |
| Terms you can read | Published terms and conditions | Verbal promises in a chat |
| A statement | A statement you can download | A screenshot someone else controls |
| A regulator | An RBI-regulated entity | Nobody |
| A grievance officer | A required grievance mechanism | The same person you are complaining about |
| An escalation route | The Ombudsman scheme | None available |

One row is worth reading twice. In a regulated set-up, a payment service provider must run a grievance system. An app-based provider must also let you complain in the app, by email, by message or through an IVR menu ([NPCI roles and rules](https://pay.google.com/intl/en_in/about/external/npci/)).

Here the complaints desk and the other party are the same phone. If that person stops replying, the process stops too. There is no second door to knock on. No file with your name on it sits anywhere.

## Why there is no claim to enforce

People assume a promise is still a promise. Indian contract law does not work that way when the purpose is unlawful.

Section 23 of the Indian Contract Act, 1872 sets a test. The object of a deal is unlawful if the law forbids it. It is also unlawful if allowing it would defeat any law. A deal with an unlawful object is void ([Act text, India Code](https://www.indiacode.nic.in/bitstream/123456789/2187/2/A187209.pdf)).

Now put the two laws side by side. Section 5 of the PROG Act 2025 bans the offer of a money game service ([Act text, MeitY](https://www.meity.gov.in/static/uploads/2025/10/8a7f103cefc68ed8aaa2ebc9a2ed7c13.pdf)). That law took effect on 1 May 2026 ([Nishith Desai analysis](https://nishithdesai.com/research-and-articles/hotline/gaming-law-wrap/setting-the-rules-of-the-game-indias-online-gaming-law-comes-into-force-15586)).

We give no legal advice, and only a court decides a case. But the drift is not subtle. A deal to fund a banned service is a weak thing to bring to anyone.

There is a second problem, and it is more basic. Even a good claim needs a defendant. You would need a name, an address, and proof of the deal. A chat handle is none of those.

## There is nowhere to take this

This part surprises people most. The routes that exist aim at firms. They do not aim at one person running an informal scheme.

Take the RBI Ombudsman scheme, which has been in force since 1 July 2026. Its subject is poor service by a Regulated Entity, and nothing else. You must write to that entity first. You may go to the Ombudsman if it turns you down, or if it stays silent for thirty days ([RB-IOS 2026 salient features](https://webassets.rbl.bank.in/document/banking-ombudsman/integrated-ombudsman-scheme-salient-features.pdf)).

Read that with care. It works against your own bank, about your bank's service. It cannot reach a private person who took your money.

What is open to you is the criminal route. You can report online money fraud on helpline 1930, or through the reporting portal. That portal also lists nodal and grievance officers to escalate to ([National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal](https://cybercrime.gov.in/Webform/Crime_NodalGrivanceList.aspx)).

That route has a cost you should weigh first. You will be describing payments you made to a banned service, in your own words, on the record.

Our page on [frozen payments and chargebacks](/guides/payment-freeze-and-chargebacks) works through the mechanics of each route.

## The middleman's own position under the Act

It helps to know what the person at the other end faces. It explains how they act better than anything else.

Section 7 is the wide one. It names banks and other lenders. Then it adds any other person who handles funds or approves them. None of them may help a payment reach an online money game ([Act text, MeitY](https://www.meity.gov.in/static/uploads/2025/10/8a7f103cefc68ed8aaa2ebc9a2ed7c13.pdf)).

Note the phrase "any other person". Section 5 covers offering or aiding such a service. Section 12 covers a failure to comply by any other person ([MeitY](https://www.meity.gov.in/static/uploads/2025/10/8a7f103cefc68ed8aaa2ebc9a2ed7c13.pdf)).

**Table 2. Exposure under the PROG Act 2025, as written**

| Section | What it covers | Maximum on first conviction |
|---|---|---|
| 5 with 9(1) | Offering, aiding or abetting a money game or service | Three years, one crore rupees, or both |
| 7 with 9(3) | Facilitating a transaction or authorisation of funds | Three years, one crore rupees, or both |
| 9(4) | A repeat conviction under 9(1) or 9(3) | Three to five years, plus one to two crore rupees |
| 10 | Offences under Sections 5 and 7 | Cognizable and non-bailable |

Now think what that means for you as a customer. Their strongest wish is to leave no trace that links the two of you. From their side that is not a flaw. It is the design.

It also explains why numbers change, and accounts, and names. A person in that spot does not build a business that lasts. Our [section-by-section explainer](/legal/prog-act-2025-explained) sets out the rest of the Act.

## You can be frozen without being contacted

One risk here has nothing to do with the operator. It comes from the payment trail itself.

Cyber fraud complaints in India feed one system. It traces money from account to account. It then marks a lien on what it can reach. In one case a lien of 13.5 lakh rupees hit a Kochi firm, with no warning at all. That firm showed up at layers nine and ten of the trail ([LiveLaw, 11 June 2026](https://www.livelaw.in/articles/cfcfrms-reading-mha-new-account-freeze-sop-537503)).

Read that again. The firm was not the fraudster. It was several hops down a chain of payments. Your payment to a collection account can drop you into a chain you never picked.

The problem has been seen at the top. The Supreme Court acted on 4 August 2026. It asked the Reserve Bank for a standard plan on mule accounts, and on accounts tied to cyber fraud. It also asked for frozen-account cases to be dealt with faster ([News on AIR report](https://newsonair.gov.in/sc-directs-rbi-to-prepare-sop-for-dealing-with-mule-accounts-bank-accounts-linked-to-cyber-fraud/)).

Has that plan been published? What notice does a person now get before a lien? Both need the RBI circular. We have not found it.

## Tax does not disappear with the paperwork

One last practical point. An informal deal does not create an informal tax position.

Section 194BA cuts tax at source on your net winnings from an online game. No minimum limit applies to it ([Income Tax Department](https://www.incometaxindia.gov.in/w/winnings-from-online-games)). Our page on [how TDS on winnings works](/legal/tds-on-winnings-india) sets out the detail.

The gap is plain. A regulated platform cuts the tax and reports it. A person with a spreadsheet does not. The duty still stands, and the missing paperwork is your problem, not theirs.

Notice the pattern across this page. Each part of the set-up moves risk to you and keeps the ease for them. That is not bad luck. It is what the missing paperwork is for.

## What this page does not contain

No names, handles, numbers or channels. No account for how such a deal is set up. No view on which version is safer, because none is.

Section 6 of the Act bans ads for a money game or service, direct or indirect ([MeitY](https://www.meity.gov.in/static/uploads/2025/10/8a7f103cefc68ed8aaa2ebc9a2ed7c13.pdf)). To point a reader at a middleman would be just that, as our [page on the advertising rules](/legal/advertising-rules-online-gaming) explains. The rest of our explainers are in the [guides hub](/guides).

## Questions people ask

### Is an agent account safer than dealing with a site directly?

No. It strips out the last things that guard you. You lose a named party, terms you can read, and a statement. Section 7 also covers any other person who helps funds reach a money game ([Act text, MeitY](https://www.meity.gov.in/static/uploads/2025/10/8a7f103cefc68ed8aaa2ebc9a2ed7c13.pdf)).

### Can I sue an agent who does not pay me?

We cannot advise on your case, and only a court can decide it. But Section 23 of the Indian Contract Act, 1872 makes a deal void where the law forbids its object ([India Code](https://www.indiacode.nic.in/bitstream/123456789/2187/2/A187209.pdf)). You would also need a real name and address.

### Can I complain to the banking Ombudsman about an agent?

The scheme covers poor service by a Regulated Entity. You must write to that entity first, then wait thirty days ([RB-IOS 2026](https://webassets.rbl.bank.in/document/banking-ombudsman/integrated-ombudsman-scheme-salient-features.pdf)). A private person is not a Regulated Entity.

### Why does the balance on my screen mean nothing?

Because it is a figure in someone else's system, not a deposit. Your money was paid into their bank account. NPCI notes that a UPI payment cannot be stopped once it starts ([NPCI UPI FAQ](https://www.npci.org.in/what-we-do/upi/faqs)).

### Can my own account be frozen because of a payment I made?

It can happen with no warning. In one case a lien of 13.5 lakh rupees landed at layers nine and ten of a payment trail, with no notice first ([LiveLaw](https://www.livelaw.in/articles/cfcfrms-reading-mha-new-account-freeze-sop-537503)). The Supreme Court asked the RBI for a standard plan on 4 August 2026 ([News on AIR](https://newsonair.gov.in/sc-directs-rbi-to-prepare-sop-for-dealing-with-mule-accounts-bank-accounts-linked-to-cyber-fraud/)).

## More from the guides

- [Data Privacy on Gaming Apps in India](/guides/data-privacy-on-gaming-apps)
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- [Expected Value in Betting](/guides/expected-value-explained)
- [Fancy Bets in Cricket Explained](/guides/fancy-bets-explained)
- [Help for Gambling Harm in India](/guides/help-for-gambling-harm-india)
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- [How Cricket Odds Work](/guides/how-cricket-odds-work)
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- [How Net Run Rate Works](/guides/how-net-run-rate-works)
- [Online Gaming Ad Rules in India](/legal/advertising-rules-online-gaming)
- [GST on Online Gaming in India](/legal/gst-on-online-gaming)
- [Caribbean Premier League 2026 — live schedule and table](/leagues/cpl)