Beware, your railway ticket could be a colour printout fake

The Central Railway has recorded 428 cases of fake tickets, including 102 for AC class, since June. Officials said touts are using stolen data to produce copies of tickets sold at booking windows. This is leading to fights on board trains, with two passengers arriving with tickets for the same berth.

Officials said waitlisted tickets are not allowed since train services resumed. As a result, touts have taken to printing counterfeit tickets on original looking paper using actual PNR, train and berth numbers, with just the name of the passenger changing. This can be spotted in the booking charts at stations and the wrongful user is not permitted to board the train.

A CR official said passengers booking tickets through agents are unaware of the fraud and blame railway authorities when they don’t find their names on charts. “It’s a tricky situation for checkers as well. They have to both handle the fight between passengers and also convey who the rightful claimant of the berth is,” an official said, adding that the one with the fake ticket has to pay a penalty and can also be deboarded. Sometimes, checkers need to take help from RPF personnel.


Through this modus operandi, investigation teams have also detected over 100 cases of misuse of senior citizens’ quota since June. For this, too, touts print original looking tickets in colour, with the name and the age of the passenger changed.

An investigating officer from CR said touts first book tickets under the senior citizen quota. These tickets are scanned and changes are made in name and age using correction software, before taking out coloured printouts. “It needs alertness and experience to detect this type of fraud,” the officer said.

A resident of Bhiwandi, Shakeel Ahmad was promised a confirmed ticket for a premium of Rs 200. However, Ahmad was caught by a checker on November 19 on his way to Varanasi by Mahanagari Express. Officials said touts are using the desperation of citizens to travel back to their villages or to their places of work after lockdowns are lifted.

Confirming the detection of the fraud, chief public relations officer of CR, Shivaji Sutar said the authorities have launched intensive drives to identify fake ticket travellers. “We need to ensure social distancing and can’t permit unreserved passengers. Our appeal is to travel with valid tickets and not fall in the trap of touts,” Sutar said.