An EXTREMELY SHOCKING scam came to light a few weeks back while I was on-board Poorva Express.
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A lady was travelling on the MB opposite to my LB in the S4 coach. She had a 7 year old kid along with her and was Durgapur bound.
As interaction sparked up in the bay comprising of me, an IT based engineer. a gentleman...
more... who apparently was an employee of the Indian Army, another Gaya bound passenger and the two of these, it came to light that she had purchased her tickets the very same morning from an agent.
She was skeptical of overcharging as THREE THOUSAND EIGHT HUNDRED looked like a figure too high to her for two sleeper class tickets, one of the passenger being a 7 year old. Hell yeah it was!
I was astonished to the limits on being ears to this figure. This was more than thrice the actual price!
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If such is the cost of a confirmed ticked five hours prior to journey, Premium isn't something to cry about, thought I. But this wasn't all. More was about to come.
I requested her to show me the tickets. She pulled out two PRS tickets from her bag. Two tickets? PRS? Curiosity doubled.
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And there it was. There in my hands was the scam that had escalated another level.
Ticket 1: NDLS-CNB --- PQWL~50-60 --- Chart Prepared ---- S4 34,35
Ticket 2: CNB-DGR ---- RLWL14,15 ----Chart NOT Prepared
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This is what had happened. The agent booked the journey in two legs because he knew any waitlist on NDLS-CNB section confirms. As chart got prepared he told her the seat number and asked her to board on that seat. She wasn't even told that this seat is reserved in her name only till CNB.
Too big a con had happened for the lady that day. But it didn't end there. I refreshed her PNR exhaustively for the next one hour while all of us sympathised with her and hoped for the best, but hopes don't change realities. Chart got prepared and it ended at RLWL8.
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After paying 3800 for a 1200 ticket, a lady along with a young kid, will be moved off her seat at 11PM for a journey stretching at least till 2PM the next day. As much as all of us wanted to help, we couldn't do much. I de-boarded at ALJN soon with faith in humanity lost.
