The central government has issued a warning to railway pensioners about an ongoing scam in which fraudsters impersonate railway officials. These scammers are reportedly sending messages via SMS and WhatsApp or making calls under the guise of updating pension payment orders (PPOs) or verifying service records.
The Railways Ministry clarified that any request for personal or financial details, including bank information or OTPs, is fraudulent. “No Railway official is authorised to seek bank details, OTPs, passwords, or any confidential information through phone calls, SMS, WhatsApp, or social media. Pensioners are advised to remain vigilant and also sensitise their family members in this regard,” the ministry said in an official statement.
The ministry has told pensioners not to reply to unexpected messages or calls. Any suspicious messages should be reported right away to the Police Cyber Cell and the concerned administrative office.
The ministry stressed that genuine railway authorities do not share links for updating PPOs or service records.
Strengthening Cybersecurity Across Railways
In addition to these warnings, Indian Railways has made great progress in cybersecurity. These efforts include Aadhaar-based authentication, multi-layer security measures, and anti-fraud systems. Due to these, additional steps the ministry has deactivated over 3.03 crore suspicious user IDs in train ticket booking in 2025, ensuring legitimate users can book their tickets without disruption.
Union Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said that Rs 6,043 crore worth of malicious bot requests were blocked in six months up to December 2025. He added that 376 complaints regarding 3.99 lakh suspicious bookings were filed on the National Cyber Crime Portal, while 12,819 suspicious email domains were blocked.
To curb misuse of Tatkal ticket bookings, Aadhaar-based OTP verification has been implemented, guaranteeing instant verification of each user’s identity. Additional measures, including OWASP security protocols and a Content Delivery Network (CDN), have been deployed to reduce system traffic and improve performance for genuine passengers.
