Fraudsters are targeting railway pensioners with cunning cyber tricks, prompting Indian Railways to roll out an urgent nationwide alert. The ministry’s statement pulls no punches: scammers posing as officials are flooding phones with bogus calls and messages, fishing for bank details, OTPs, passwords, and more.
Posing as concerned authorities, these crooks cite routine updates like PPO revisions or KYC checks to extract confidential data. But here’s the truth—no railway personnel solicits such info through calls, SMS, WhatsApp, or social platforms. Pensioners must ignore and report these immediately to cyber police and local offices.
Railways urges retirees to educate their loved ones too, fostering a culture of caution. Behind the advisory lies robust action. Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, addressing Parliament, shared impressive stats: 3.03 crore dodgy user accounts blocked in 2025 train bookings via advanced Aadhaar verification and anti-fraud protocols.
In a half-year push till December 2025, the system thwarted 6,043 crore harmful bot attempts on e-tickets. With 376 complaints filed on the cyber portal from nearly 4 lakh suspect bookings, and 12,819 rogue domains neutralized, the crackdown is fierce. Tackling tatkal abuses head-on, mandatory Aadhaar OTP for online bookings levels the playing field.
This multi-pronged strategy underscores Railways’ commitment to user safety amid surging digital threats. Pensioners, stay sharp—your security is in your hands, backed by a vigilant administration.