Lok Sabha Question No. 2282 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2020-03-04
Subject: Online Ticket Tourists
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: Gopal Chinayya Shetty

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2282 TO BE ANSWERED ON 04.03.2020

## ONLINE TICKET TOUTS

## †2282. SHRI GOPAL CHINNAYA SHETTY:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether a fraud gang has been unearthed which were booking 50%  tickets  under  tatkal  category  in  just  forty  seconds  after opening of booking using a critical software;
- (b) if so, the details thereof along with the names and addresses of these offenders;
- (c) whether any action has been taken by the Government against these offenders;
- (d) if so, the details thereof; and
- (e) the  steps  taken  by  the  Government  to  check  such  frauds  in future under tatkal scheme?

ANSWER MINISTER OF RAILWAYS AND COMMERCE & INDUSTRY (SHRI PIYUSH GOYAL)

- (a) to (e): A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.

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STATEMENT  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PARTS  (a) TO (e) OF UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2282 BY SHRI GOPAL CHINNAYA SHETTY TO  BE  ANSWERED  IN  LOK  SABHA  ON  04.03.2020  REGARDING  ONLINE TICKET TOUTS

(a)  to  (d):  Railway  Protection  Force  (RPF)  arrested  one  accused  person named  Ghulam  Mustafa  suspected  of  selling  illegal  Railway  ticket booking software ANMS on 08.01.2020 in course of enquiry into criminal case vide Crime No. 758/2019 dated 30.10.2019 under section 143 of 'The Railways Act' registered at RPF Post, Yeshwantpur, Bengaluru City. He was  found  to  have  used  certain  illegal  softwares,  advanced  hacking applications, crypto currency accounts for carrying out of this operation and further,  during  the  course  of  enquiry,  a  list  of  3000  bank  branches were  recovered  from  his  laptop.  On  the  basis  of  lead  given  by  the arrested accused regarding operation of illegal software for e-Ticketing, several cases have been registered in RPF Posts across Indian Railways, wherein a total of 82 accused persons have been arrested till 25.02.2020 and are under investigation. Further, in this matter,  several cases have been registered by State Police/Delhi police which are under investigation.

The illegal software during its operation auto-fills the passenger details in form, auto reads the login and submit CAPTCHAs, bypasses bank OTP protection  and  pushes  multiple  numbers  of  fictitious  IRCTC  user  IDs simultaneously,  due  to  which  it  facilitates  huge  number  of  fictitious IRCTC user IDs to jump the queue when window of Tatkal/other booking starts and corner simultaneously several confirmed berths in trains. Due to  pan  India  action  by  RPF,  all  these  illegal  softwares  have  been suspended and are not being used. In addition to cessation of functioning of  the  illegal  softwares,  various  wings  of  railways  like  RPF,  IRCTC  and CRIS have worked together to upgrade the existing security features of the  PRS  system.  This  has  also  disrupted  the  functioning  of  other softwares. Situation is kept under close watch so that any upgradation of illegal softwares, still in operation, if any, is responded to in real time and even such softwares are not able to indulge in any such malpractices.

(e): In order to prevent the activities of unscrupulous elements/ touts in booking of e-tickets including Tatkal tickets, several checks have been deployed  by  Indian  Railway  Catering  and  Tourism  Corporation  (IRCTC) including the following:

- i. Restriction  of  only  2  Tatkal  tickets  per  user  from  1000  hours  to 1200 hours.
- ii. Introduction of Random Security Question for Tatkal ticket bookings.
- iii. Restriction  of  only  one  tatkal  ticket  per  day  per  train  to  retail service providers (agents).
- iv. Restriction of creation of only one IRCTC User ID on a given mobile number and email ID.
- v. A limit of booking 6 Railway tickets by an individual user in a month has  been  set.  This  has  been  enhanced  to  12  Railway  tickets  per month, if users have linked their IRCTC user ID with their Aadhaar number, and at least one of the passengers in the passenger list is verifiable through Aadhaar.
- vi. Restriction of only one booking in one user login session except for return/onward journey between 0800 and 1200 hours.
7. Dynamic  CAPTCHA  introduced  at  three  places-  registration,  login and booking page to check fraudulent booking through automation
- vii. software.
- viii. Checks on minimum time required to enter passenger details and display of CAPTCHA at the time of e-ticket booking by users.
- ix. Restriction on authorized agents of IRCTC for booking tickets during first fifteen minutes of opening of Advance Reservation Period (ARP) booking and Tatkal booking.
- x. Regular drives are being conducted by RPF against persons/agencies  found  involved  in  unauthorized  carrying  on  of business of procuring and supplying of railway tickets. The offenders are booked under section 143 of the Railways Act.
- xi. Use of PRABAL query based application for verification of IRCTC IDs to detect the cases of illegal E-ticketing with follow up action.

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