TIRUPUR: RPF officials in Tirupur along with officers of the RPF Cyber Cell at Southern Railway Headquarters, Chennai, unearthed a Tatkal ticketing scam and arrested an IIT alumnus in Tirupur on Friday.
According to the press release, the arrested suspect has been identified as S Yuvarajaa, a resident of Pothiyapalayam in Kangeyam taluk in Tirupur. The youth had an educational qualification of BE (Aeronautical) from Anna University and MTech (Aerospace) from IIT-Kharagpur.
The scammer had reportedly developed two Android applications -- 'Super Tatkal' and 'Super Tatkal Pro' -- to amass money by fraudulent means. The fake apps enabled customers to obtain confirmed Tatkal e-tickets owing to their speed.
Users of both the fake apps had to purchase a coin pack (10 coins worth Rs 20) which was pre-paid. The payment mode for both the apps was the "Instamojo" payment gateway through which the suspect got it credited to his own savings bank account.
During interrogation, he admitted that he had swindled money to the tune of Rs 20 lakhs from 2016 to 2020. There were approximately one lakh end users who had downloaded the fake apps. A case has been registered under section 143 (2) of the Railways Act.
The release said the RPF Cyber Cell at Southern Railway Headquarters, Chennai identified the fake app developer's location and also collected digital evidence i.e. server source code and bank statements of the offender. Both the fake apps have been deactivated from the Google Playstore, the release added.