RPF busts illegal train ticket booking software 'Real Mango', 50 held

Photo used for representational purpose

In a nationwide investigation, the Railway Protection Force (RPF) busted the illegal software called ‘Real Mango' or ‘Rare Mango' which was used for cornering confirmed railway reservations. RPF has, so far, apprehended 50 criminals involved in the operation of this illegal software and blocking of live tickets worth over Rs 5 lakh.

"In view of the apprehension of increase in touting activity after the restart of the passenger services, drive against touts was intensified by Railway Protection Force of Indian Railways. Operation of an illegal software called ‘Rare Mango' (later changed its name to ‘Real Mango') was revealed on August 9 during action against touts by the field units of RPF," a senior official said.

RPF units of North Central Railway (NCR), Eastern Railway (ER) and Western Railway (WR) apprehended some suspects and initiated the process of understanding and unravelling the operation of RareMango/Real Mango Software.

During the investigation, these facts came to light:

• Real mango software bypasses V3 and V2 captcha.
• It synchronises bank OTP with the help of a mobile app and feeds it to the requisite form automatically.
• The software auto-fills the passenger details and payment details in the forms.
• The software logs in to the IRCTC website through multiple IRCTC ids.
• The illegal software is sold through a five-tiered structure - System Admin and his team, Mavens, Super sellers, Sellers and Agents.
• The system admin receives payment in bitcoins.

"Field units of RPF have apprehended 50 criminals, including the kingpin (system developer) and key managers involved in the running of this illegal software and blocking of live tickets worth over Rs 5 lakh. Five key operatives of the illegal software have been arrested from West Bengal. The software has now been fully decimated," the senior official added.

It may be noted that coordinated nationwide action by RPF between December 2019 to March 2020 had led to arrest of 104 criminals involved and the disruption of many illegal softwares like ANMS/ Red Mirchi/Black TS, TikTok, I-Ball, Red Bull, MAC, N-GET, Cycle, Star-V2, etc.

The information supplied by RPF helped CRIS/IRCTC to strengthen security features in the Passenger Reservation System (PRS).

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