Fake tickets flooding Mumbai locals; Central Railway warns about bogus tickets

The fake e-ticket that the woman used to travel aboard an AC local. PICS/BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

Central Railway (CR) authorities have discovered a major scam, after an alert ticket checker caught a female passenger in an AC local train at Kalyan, travelling with a fake ticket. The ticket - an almost identical replica of the original - appeared genuine at first glance. But on detailed examination, it was found that the mandatory QR code was missing, and the ticket had a link, which was a giveaway.

Subsequently, CR authorities filed an FIR at Kalyan railway police station against the commuter who works for a prominent bank in Mumbai. "We were checking onboard the Kalyan-Dadar AC local train when we came across the lady. At first sight, there seemed nothing wrong when she flashed her ticket. But when we scrolled it up and down, we noticed that the QR code was missing and there was a web link at the top. This alerted me, and I rechecked, only to find that it was a fake ticket," Ticket Checker Vishal Tukaram Navale said.

"We detained the commuter - Gudiya Omkar Sharma - and on investigating further, found that she had sourced the file via WhatsApp as an APK (Android Package Kit - file format used by the Android operating systems). She said it was shared by her husband and confessed that he has distributed it to a number of people," he said. According to Navale, these commuters are from well to do families. "It is quite shocking that they behave in such a manner. We have initiated action against all such commuters."

The ticket checking community and commercial staff of CR conducted further investigations to find that such tickets are generated by AI in not just images, but the entire coding of the programme is generated to look like an original UTS ticket. "This is a dangerous trend and we have asked staff to remain more alert now. We appeal to commuters to travel respectfully and not indulge in such cheap practices," said Dr Swapnil Nila, chief public relations officer, CR.

mid-day, in its November 12 edition, highlighted how a disturbing new-age trend has begun surfacing on Mumbai's suburban rail network - commuters faking mobile tickets by editing screenshots to dodge fares, particularly on the premium AC local trains and AC express trains. Over the past two years, the practice has shifted from crude, camera-edited passes to a sleeker form of digital fraud: commuters now doctor UTS screens or manufacture fake QR codes to ride premium AC services without paying.