{"id":8971,"date":"2025-07-26T07:19:02","date_gmt":"2025-07-26T07:19:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/railtravels.org\/?p=8971"},"modified":"2025-07-26T07:19:02","modified_gmt":"2025-07-26T07:19:02","slug":"subversion-of-irctc-online-ticket-booking-system-helped-touts-book-tickets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.reilsolar.com\/train\/subversion-of-irctc-online-ticket-booking-system-helped-touts-book-tickets\/","title":{"rendered":"Subversion of IRCTC online Ticket Booking system helped touts book tickets"},"content":{"rendered":"<header class=\"entry-header\"><\/header>\n<footer class=\"entry-footer\">Mumbai: The multi-crore ticket touting scam busted by Central Railway\u2019s Railway Protection Force (RPF) unit and the commercial department has unearthed another disturbing truth about the large-scale subversion of the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation\u2019s (IRCTC) online ticket booking system.<\/footer>\n<footer>\n<h2 class=\"entry-title\">Subversion of IRCTC online Ticket Booking system helped touts book tickets<\/h2>\n<\/footer>\n<div class=\"entry-content\">\n<p>The RPF\u2019s interrogation of scam kingpin Kulbir Singh, who made the automation software that was helping touts corner most of the seats on IRCTC\u2019s website, has revealed that a couple of websites (names withheld for the sake of domain name privacy to protect original IRCTC website) were using the IRCTC acronym, mirroring the IRCTC\u2019s booking process, and allowing touts to corner tickets much faster than any bonafide passenger could manage.<\/p>\n<p>When tried out the sites, one of them didn\u2019t open whereas the other was functional. The functional one actually advertises itself as the one-stop solution for people wanting to book tickets on IRCTC with a promise \u201cto help you win the tatkal competition 100% free\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Alok Bohra, Senior Divisional Security Commissioner, RPF, Central Railway, confirmed to media the development and said an official letter to the IRCTC had been dispatched about this. \u201cIt\u2019s their duty to block these sites so that bonafide passengers are not put at a disadvantage by these touts,\u201d Bohra said.<\/p>\n<p>Sunil Kumar, Group General Manager (Information Technology), IRCTC, said the sites were unauthorised and that action would be taken against them.<\/p>\n<p>RPF officials, meanwhile, have also written to Google for details of the various e-mail IDs held by the 12 arrested touts so that more transactions and ticketing details could be ferreted out of them.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s just not enough that we arrest touts and recover tickets from them. It is necessary that the IRCTC website is strengthened against such automation software. The IT department of IRCTC should come down heavily on such websites so that thousands of passengers logging on to the IRCTC website are not cheated. Unless this case is taken to its logical conclusion, the recovery of crores of rupees will be of no value to the bonafide passenger,\u201d said a senior railway official.<\/p>\n<p>The scale of the scam can be gauged from the fact that the recovery of tickets as well as their value is more than all the tickets confiscated by the RPF unit of CR between January and September this year \u2014 2,865 tickets worth Rs.83.65 lakh. The recovery in the speed software touting scam so far has crossed 4,000 tickets with a total value of more than Rs.2 crore.<\/p>\n<p>You&#8217;re asking about how unauthorised agents\u2014often called <em>touts<\/em>\u2014exploited subversions of IRCTC\u2019s Tatkal booking system to book tickets illegally. Here\u2019s what has been verified:<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>\ud83d\udd75\ufe0f How Touts Subverted IRCTC\u2019s Booking System<\/h2>\n<h3>1. Use of Illegal Booking Software<\/h3>\n<p>Agents and tech-savvy touts used pirated software such as <strong>Nexus<\/strong>, <strong>Big Boss<\/strong>, <strong>Sikka V2<\/strong>, <strong>Red\u2011Mirchi<\/strong>, <strong>Real\u2011Mango<\/strong>, and <strong>NASA Tatkal Software<\/strong> to automate Tatkal bookings. These bypass IRCTC\u2019s booking protocols by auto-filling passenger details and even circumvent captchas.<br \/>\nIn a major seizure, the Railway Protection Force (RPF) found <strong>42 such illegal software<\/strong> used nationwide to book confirmed tickets, including Rajdhani and other premier trains.<\/p>\n<p>One infamous case involved a CBI assistant programmer, Ajay Garg, and others who developed software that could \u201csubvert\u201d the ticketing system\u2014enabling agents to secure bulk Tatkal bookings with one click. This led to arrests in December 2025.<\/p>\n<h3>2. Fake Accounts &amp; Bots<\/h3>\n<p>Touts created hundreds of <strong>robot-generated IRCTC accounts<\/strong> using disposable emails and mobile numbers. One bust in Surat revealed <strong>973 such accounts<\/strong>, generating over 650 Tatkal tickets and earning lakhs in profit.<\/p>\n<p>From January to May 2025, IRCTC logged over <strong>2.9 lakh suspicious PNRs<\/strong> made within five minutes of booking windows, leading to deactivation of over <strong>2.5 crore user IDs<\/strong> linked to malpractice.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>\ud83d\udcc9 Impact on Genuine Users<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Tickets vanish within seconds<\/strong> on many routes\u2014users have reported booking failures within minutes at ticket-release time. One Reddit user noted repeated WL status within 2\u20133 minutes, despite booking on the ticket opening day.<\/li>\n<li>Discussions on Reddit consistently highlight how bots and extensions lead to faster bookings and let agents monopolize availability, severely disadvantaging manual users.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>\ud83d\udee1\ufe0f Railways\u2019 Countermeasures<\/h2>\n<h3>Anti-Bot Systems &amp; AI Monitoring<\/h3>\n<p>In June 2025, IRCTC completed a system overhaul with <strong>anti-bot safeguards<\/strong>, AI-powered detection, and integration with a Content Delivery Network (CDN). These steps reduced unauthorized automated bookings\u2014especially in the critical first minutes of Tatkal windows.<\/p>\n<h3>Mass Deactivations &amp; Regulations<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Over <strong>2.5 crore IDs<\/strong> were deactivated for suspicious behavior.<\/li>\n<li>IRCTC now enforces account limits: one ID per mobile\/email, and limits on monthly bookings\u2014unless Aadhaar-verified.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>RPF Operations<\/h3>\n<p>Under &#8220;Operation Thunder,&#8221; nearly <strong>380 touts<\/strong> involved in illegal ticket selling were arrested. The RPF regularly audited agents, PRS counters, platforms, and online content to catch misuse.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>\u2705 Summary Table<\/h2>\n<table>\n<thead>\n<tr>\n<th><strong>Issue<\/strong><\/th>\n<th><strong>What Happened<\/strong><\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>Illegal software\/bots<\/td>\n<td>Touts used automation tools to book large volumes quickly (often bypassing captcha)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Fake\/multiple accounts<\/td>\n<td>Hundreds of disposable accounts created to increase booking chances<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Real-user disadvantage<\/td>\n<td>Genuine users often found WL\/Book Not Available within seconds<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Crackdown measures<\/td>\n<td>RPF and IRCTC banned rogue software and blocked millions of suspicious IDs<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Technical safeguards<\/td>\n<td>Anti-bot, AI-based detection, Aadhaar-based limits now in place<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<hr \/>\n<h3>\ud83e\udded Final Thoughts<\/h3>\n<p>Touts were exploiting IRCTC\u2019s Tatkal booking system using unauthorized software and fake accounts\u2014often booking within seconds and selling tickets at a premium. IRCTC and RPF have since launched large-scale crackdowns, deploying AI\/anti-bot systems, deactivating millions of accounts, and enhancing regulation to restore booking fairness.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Mumbai: The multi-crore ticket touting scam busted by Central Railway\u2019s Railway Protection Force (RPF) unit and the commercial department has unearthed another disturbing truth about the large-scale subversion of the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation\u2019s (IRCTC) online ticket booking system. Subversion of IRCTC online Ticket Booking system helped touts book tickets The RPF\u2019s interrogation [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":102,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[732],"tags":[898],"class_list":["post-8971","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-indian-railways","tag-subversion-of-irctc-online-ticket-booking-system-helped-touts-book-tickets"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reilsolar.com\/train\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8971","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reilsolar.com\/train\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reilsolar.com\/train\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reilsolar.com\/train\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/102"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reilsolar.com\/train\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8971"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.reilsolar.com\/train\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8971\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reilsolar.com\/train\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8971"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reilsolar.com\/train\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8971"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reilsolar.com\/train\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8971"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}