The cat-and-mouse game between China's railway authorities and web-savvy scalpers
Scalpers continue to exploit loopholes to buy tickets in bulk during major travel seasons
China’s railway authorities are waging a constant war with internet-savvy scalpers who have exploited loopholes in the railway ticketing website in order to purchase tickets at peak travel times.
Because of limited spots on each train and a booking rush during major festivals such as the Lunar New Year, customers often find that tickets have already sold out by the time their information is entered and verified.
Since 12306.cn first began accepting internet reservations for both high-speed and normal trains in 2011, scalpers have taken advantage of the opportunity to purchase tickets in bulk and re-sell them to customers at high prices.
In an effort to combat this phenomenon, 12306.cn recently went through an upgrade that requires users to input various verification codes when reserving tickets.