IRCTC shuts down over 9 crore accounts in crackdown on ticket touts

The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) has carried out its biggest ever crackdown on the black marketing and touting of online railway tickets. IRCTC has permanently closed 3.04 crore accounts belonging to agents and touts who misused the system by creating fake user IDs. Another 6.33 crore accounts found engaged in suspicious activity have been suspended for now. Holders of these accounts will not be able to book tickets until their identity is verified.

According to IRCTC, several agents created user accounts using fake email IDs and numbers, and booked large numbers of tickets as soon as booking opened each morning. These tickets were later sold to stranded passengers at inflated prices during the festival and holiday season.

To stop this malpractice, IRCTC has also changed its booking rules. Authorised agents will not be allowed to book tickets in the first 10 minutes after the advance reservation window opens, that is, from 8 am to 8.10 am. Users will also be required to verify their government identity card, through biometric or verified ID, in order to book tickets during the advance booking window.

IRCTC says the use of modern technology such as an anti-bot system and content delivery network has brought about a 55 to 65 percent drop in bookings made through fake software and bots.

New booking records have also been set this festival season. On September 7, IRCTC's website recorded over 20 lakh ticket bookings in a single day, the highest single-day booking figure this year. This surpassed the previous record of 18.40 lakh tickets set on August 19, 2025.

To curb touting and black marketing, IRCTC has been running a special drive since October last year. During this period, 16,041 suspicious email domains have been blocked, and 592 complaints linked to 4.21 lakh suspicious PNRs have been filed on the cyber crime portal.