The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation has intensified its crackdown on suspicious accounts used for fraudulent and unauthorised train ticket bookings.
IRCTC has deactivated 3.04 crore user IDs and suspended another 6.33 crore accounts as part of measures to prevent ticket touting and misuse of its online reservation system.
The action targets accounts flagged through multiple parameters, including unrealistic mobile numbers, disposable email domains, suspicious IP addresses and sequential or gibberish usernames. IRCTC is also using anti-bot technology and other cybersecurity measures to detect automated and malicious activity.
The crackdown is aimed at ensuring fairer access to tickets, particularly during high-demand booking periods such as Tatkal reservations. Aadhaar-based authentication has also been introduced to establish user uniqueness and prevent the creation of multiple fake or unauthorised accounts.
IRCTC has also reported complaints related to suspicious PNRs and has blocked thousands of suspicious email domains as part of its broader anti-fraud efforts. Genuine users whose accounts are wrongly flagged can seek revalidation through the grievance mechanism.
With online bookings accounting for the vast majority of reserved train tickets, IRCTC is increasingly relying on cybersecurity, data analysis and anti-bot systems to protect the reservation platform and improve access for genuine passengers.
