3 crore fake Tatkal IDs wiped out in 2025 to curb ticketing fraud: Ashwini Vaishnaw

New Delhi: Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Friday informed the Rajya Sabha that around 3.03 crore suspicious user IDs were deactivated in 2025 to curb fraud in online Tatkal ticketing.

"Rigorous revalidation and verification of user accounts have been done. About 3.03 crore suspicious user IDs have been deactivated in the year 2025, “ the Minister said in his written answer.

Regular security audits of the reservation system are carried out by empanelled information security audit agencies of CERT-In (Indian Computer Emergency Response Team), Vaishnaw noted.

"Moreover, internet traffic related to the ticketing system is continuously monitored by CERT-In and the National Critical Information Infrastructure Protection Centre (NCIIPC) to detect and prevent cyber attacks," he added.

376 complaints have been lodged on the National Cyber Crime Portal pertaining to 3.99 lakh suspicious bookings, and 12,819 suspicious email domains have been blocked in the year 2025.

Vaishnaw said Aadhaar based one-time password (OTP) verification has contributed to improved ticket availability for genuine passengers and enhanced transparency.

He mentioned various other methods such as application-layer security control, network and infrastructure-layer security control, physical security control, besides regular security audit and monitoring to ensure that the reservation system of Indian Railways is a robust and highly-secure platform equipped with industry-standard cyber security.