China Railway warns travellers over third-party platforms’ ticket-grabbing tactics

China Railway published an advisory warning travellers about third-party ticket platforms, saying 12306 — its website and app — is the only official online train ticket sales platform and that it has never cooperated with any third-party platform, according to IT Home and China News Service. The railway listed the risks of such platforms as added charges, bundled sales, misleading marketing, inconvenient refunds and changes, and the leaking of personal information. [ 1 , 2 ]

The railway said all third-party platforms produce no ticket inventory of their own and that their “ticket-grabbing” activity ends at 12306, IT Home reported. It said 12306 charges no ticket acceleration packages, membership fees or carriage seat-selection fees, and that it handles refunds and changes in line with regulations. [ 1 , 2 ]

The advisory described bloggers wearing uniforms imitating railway staff who post short videos claiming to offer “internal ticket channels” and “rules about train tickets you don’t know about”, directing users to third-party platforms. In one cited case, a traveller followed a video promising discounted high-speed business class tickets and found prices identical to 12306. In another, a traveller used a blogger’s “exclusive referral code”, was guided into opening a membership and paid more than 20 yuan in extra fees; the code was the blogger’s channel for recruitment commissions, the advisory said. [ 1 , 2 ]

The railway also warned that some platforms mimic 12306’s interface, colours and wording and ask travellers for their 12306 account, password and identity details. A traveller identified as Mr Zhang said he entered his 12306 account and password on a page whose layout and colours matched 12306 and later received an 12306 confirmation for a ticket from Yichang East to Chongqing North that he had not bought; he called 12306 customer service, saying he suspected his information had been used. [ 1 , 2 ]

According to China News Service, platforms that obtain travellers’ contact details send repeated messages such as “tickets for your train are tight, upgrade to VIP now” and “accelerate now to raise your success rate”. A traveller identified as Ms Zhao said that after authorising her 12306 account credentials on a platform for a waiting-list order she received such messages and repeated automated sales calls, and that the calls continued after customer service said they had been closed. A traveller identified as Mr Chen said a platform advertised a “waiting list plus seat monitoring” dual channel, then required a 38 yuan fee to enable it, and his ticket was never confirmed. The advisory said the “dual channel” is in fact 12306’s normal sales function, repackaged as a paid service. [ 2 ]

China Railway said 12306 uses big-data analysis and risk-control technology to identify accounts that frequently buy large numbers of tickets for other people, payment accounts that frequently pay for others’ orders, and behaviour that mimics users’ ticket purchases through forged devices. Accounts with abnormal behaviour are placed in a slow queue and payment accounts with abnormal behaviour are refused ticketing, it said. [ 1 ]

Caixin later published a report whose headline also refers to fake science videos, acceleration packages and dual channels, but the document provides no article text or summary of its coverage. [ 3 ]