Bot bazaar busted: Crackdown restricts online operations of Tatkal e-ticketing racket

The online network of Tatkal ticketing agents, employing bots to grab tickets before genuine travellers, appears alarmed following India Today’s expos of their operations, tactics, and network.

Our investigation into the racket found that agents were using unauthorised platforms to book Tatkal tickets in under 60 seconds. These platforms relied on bots and stolen Aadhaar-verified IRCTC accounts, putting user data at risk.

These agents, accompanied by techies who developed the bots, and fake service providers, exploited loopholes in the IRCTC booking system and used Telegram and WhatsApp accounts for their operations.

India Today identified over 40 active groups on Telegram and WhatsApp. Some dissolved after the report, while others shifted to more closed and covert channels of communication. Many also wiped their message history to erase traces of their operations.

A WhatsApp group named “Jai Shree Ram Bhai Tatkal Materials” changed its name to “Jai Shree Ram Bhakton Ka Parivaar” in an attempt to avoid suspicion. Shortly after, the group admin informed members to join a secret backup group, admitting that their details had been exposed in news reports.

Telegram and WhatsApp channels began sharing booking details using the view-once feature to avoid detection.

Another group with 851 members, named “Ocean Extension”, was deleted by its admin. The group not only sold Tatkal tickets to users but also offered Tatkal booking software to agents. Its website, which sold bots designed to steal data and speed up bookings — effectively overwhelming the system for genuine users — also disappeared.

A WhatsApp group named “IRCTC Tatkal Update 2.0”, which had 194 members and was engaged in the same business, was also deleted.

LIMITED IMPACT

But the job is far from done. While groups with traceable digital footprints were swiftly taken down, many others continue to operate with full force, using virtual private servers (VPS) to mask their IP addresses.

One group, with at least 900 members, continues to openly sell the “Ezyride Tatkal Service” bot to agents. A related website, tatkalworld.com, also offers VPS services and proxy IPs to mask users' identities. Notably, the site was created just three months ago.

Operators and agents are now using international phone numbers to mask their identities.

“The reality is there will be no lasting impact on the ground,” Triveni Singh, former IPS Officer, Cybercrime told India Today. “Within minutes, new channels will be set up, new IDs will be used, and the racket will continue. This is part of a massive operation spanning every state in the country, with countless agents using cheaply available bots. At best, they may shift to private Telegram groups or the darknet — but it’s not going to stop.”

According to Singh, the only way to curb this is through an AI-powered platform developed by the government that would use multiple parameters like geo-fencing, where only a person with a UP Aadhaar number can book tickets for someone else within UP, and AI-based profiling to track the number of times each ID is used. “Only then can the racket be effectively restricted,” he said.

- Ends