Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), the richest Hindu endowment body in the world, is facing an unprecedented threat from fraudulent websites and apps that are selling counterfeit tickets for various religious rituals known as sevas. These online platforms are operating a large-scale scam worth millions of rupees.
The police suspect that these illegal activities are being carried out by criminal gangs based in Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, primarily targeting devotees from central and north India.
While TTD does provide online ticket sales, the available quota is quickly exhausted within hours of its release. Exploiting this situation, the fake websites mimic the design of the official TTD site, leading to confusion among devotees. Furthermore, these fraudulent platforms even sell premium VIP break darshan tickets at higher prices, despite TTD issuing them exclusively under discretionary quotas during the current booking process and not online.
The temple trust has received numerous complaints from devotees and has taken legal action by filing complaints with the police. So far, they have successfully shut down 41 fake websites.
One such victim of this scam is G Rohit (name changed), a devotee from Pune. He came across a link shared in local WhatsApp groups, which directed him to a fake TTD website. Rohit paid Rs 4,000 to book a special entry darshan ticket for April 8 and was instructed to collect the ticket from the TTD office in Tirumala. However, upon reaching Tirumala, TTD officials informed him that the ticket was counterfeit, resulting in him being denied entry. This case is just one of several that have been reported recently.
TTD’s IT division general manager, LM Sandeep, has held meetings with officials from Andhra Pradesh Technology Services (APTS), the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), internet domain registrars, a web-hosting company, and payment gateway service providers, with the aim of shutting down these fraudulent sites and 13 related apps.
Additionally, TTD is in the process of implementing sophisticated brand management tools to promptly identify and take action against any new fake websites or mobile apps that may emerge in real-time.