HIGH phishing
"IRCTC" SMS says your train booking failed — click here for a refund
An SMS appearing to be from IRCTC claims your train booking failed or was cancelled, and a refund of a specific (often suspiciously round) amount is pending. A link takes you to a fake IRCTC page that captures your IRCTC login, PAN, and net-banking credentials.
Also known as: IRCTC refund phishing, train booking failure SMS, fake IRCTC link
What to do right now
- 1 Do not click. Real refund status is in the IRCTC app or website (logged in)
- 2 If you actually want to check, log in to irctc.co.in directly — type the URL yourself
- 3 If you logged in on a fake page, change your IRCTC password and net-banking password immediately
- 4 If you shared card details, freeze your card and call your bank's fraud line
- 5 Report at https://cybercrime.gov.in or call 1930 (national cyber helpline).
Red flags
- ⚠ IRCTC sends refund updates to the email and app — they do not text refund links to recover money
- ⚠ Domain in the link is not irctc.co.in (look for variations like irctc-refund.in, irctcrefundportal.com)
- ⚠ Refund amount is suspiciously rounded (₹950, ₹1450) and the booking they claim 'failed' doesn't match your records
- ⚠ Asks you to log in via the link, then asks for OTP, net-banking password, or full debit card details
IRCTC refund SMS phishing peaks around festival travel (Diwali, Holi, summer vacations) when real bookings, cancellations, and refunds are happening in large volumes. Scammers piggyback on this churn.
The simple rule: any refund link in any SMS, ever, deserves to be deleted. Open the IRCTC app or type irctc.co.in yourself. Real refunds appear there. They never require you to log in via a text link.