Delhi Man Nabbed for Hacking IRCTC Website: A man from Delhi was detained by the Railway Protection Force (RPF) for hacking into the IRCTC website. The man abused the Indian Railways ticket booking portal to obtain Tatkal quota seats in trains unlawfully. These tickets were then sold at inflated prices to passengers.

The authorities have disclosed all case-related information. Moinuddin Chisti, the accused individual, resides in Dadri, Uttar Pradesh. He operates a railway ticket booking business in Greater Noida’s Ayodhya Ganj. According to the police, Chisti has been orchestrating this scandal for two years.

Delhi Man Nabbed for Hacking IRCTC Website

The accused used illegal software such as Nexus, Sikka V2, and BigBoss to construct anonymous personal profiles on IRCTC’s portal, as revealed by police questioning. Using scripts, these applications automatically fill in details such as name, travel details, train selection, and payment information when booking tickets.

The perpetrator of the scandal accessed Tatkal and VIP quota tickets through these exploits. This enabled him to reserve tickets more quickly than any other passenger. Passengers were sold tickets at prices up to four times the actual registration amount.

The accused has violated numerous Indian Railways laws. IRCTC Agents are prohibited from using third-party software to book tickets and are required to exclusively adhere to the IRCTC portal using an IRCTC-issued agent account.

Additionally, Indian Railways prohibits the transfer of sold tickets and reserved seats. It is illegal to transfer a ticket from the initial ticket holder to another person. Multiple sections of the Indian Home Railways Act of 1989 were violated by Moinuddin Chisti’s practise of conducting reservations under fictitious names and distributing tickets to unregistered passengers.

Using these illicit methods, the accused sold tickets worth Rs 30 lakhs over the past two years. According to reports, he also possesses a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics. The local cybercrime unit became suspicious of his illicit activities when multiple Tatkal reservations were made using the same mobile number. After the cyber division alerted the Railway Police Force, a crackdown on Moinuddin Chisti was initiated.

The authorities have seized two laptop computers, one mobile phone, and a printer from his store. Upon further investigation, the police discovered 88 additional fraudulent tickets along with Rs 1,55,000 in cash. The individual was brought before the court and sentenced to prison.

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IRCTC Urges Passengers To Book Tickets Using Official Methods

This is not the first time that the Indian Railways has dismantled an illicit ticket booking ring. Such incidents continue to occur, and as a result, IRCTC has been urging users to adhere to official channels, such as offline ticket counters, the IRCTC website and app, and only IRCTC-registered agents.

Recently, Indian Railways issued a notice stating that it had discovered a phishing scheme using the IRCTC name. A fraudulent app was circulating that purported to be the official IRCTC app and allowed users to book Tatkal tickets more quickly. However, the app was never used to schedule tickets; instead, it was stealing the money users paid for ticket bookings.