A dummy ticket scam is a seller who takes payment and never delivers a real, checkable reservation. The clearest sign is a PNR that will not open on the airline's own website. Others include no sample, no refund terms and a price that changes at checkout. If you paid and got nothing, contact your bank or card issuer and report it on cybercrime.gov.in or by calling 1930.
- The one proof that matters is whether the PNR opens on the airline's own website with the right name and flights.
- A genuine seller shows a sample, states a fixed price and publishes refund terms before you pay.
- No booking service needs your card PIN, an OTP or your net banking password, and a reservation does not need a passport scan.
- A promise of visa approval or an "embassy approved" badge is itself a warning sign.
- If you paid and nothing arrived, contact your bank or card issuer the same day and report it on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal or on 1930.
On this page
A dummy ticket scam is a seller who takes your payment and never creates a real, checkable reservation. If your appointment is this week, run one check before you trust anything else a seller shows you: enter the PNR and your surname on the airline's own website. If nothing opens, do not submit the document, whatever it cost.
This article names no seller. It sets out nine warning signs, a buyer's checklist that works on any provider, Dummy Tickets Visa (DTV) included, and what to do if you have already paid and got nothing. Whether a reservation belongs in your visa file at all is covered on our flight reservation for visa page.
Sign 1: the PNR does not open on the airline's website
The surest sign of a dummy ticket scam is a booking reference that the airline's own website cannot find. A genuine reservation is a record in the airline's system, so it shows up there. Open the airline's site yourself, not a link the seller sent, find Manage booking or My trips, and enter the booking reference with the passenger's surname. A live reservation shows the name and flights while the hold lasts; the wording and layout vary by airline.
A fake can pass every visual test. The PDF can carry the right logo and layout, because none of that depends on a real booking existing. How to verify your PNR gives the full steps. Run the check the day you receive the document, so there is still time to act if it fails.
A reservation is a temporary hold, and the airline decides how long it stays live. Check it again close to your appointment, not only on the day it arrived.
Signs on the seller's website
Four warning signs show up on a seller's site before you pay, and you can check all of them in a few minutes.
Sign 2: no sample before you pay
A genuine seller shows you what you are buying. A sample with a placeholder name lets you see the layout and fields before any money changes hands, and a genuine business has no reason to hide one. A seller that will only describe the document in words is asking you to buy blind. Our sample dummy ticket shows the kind of page to look for.
Sign 3: a price that changes at checkout
The price you are quoted should be the price you pay. Watch for a chat quote at one figure followed by a "processing fee", "urgent fee" or "verification charge" at the payment step, or a request to pay again because the "first payment failed" when your bank shows it went through. A genuine seller publishes its price: ours is ₹699 per passenger, the same for one-way or return, on the price page. Being offered PayPal or a card instead of UPI is not a warning sign in itself. A figure that moves after it was quoted is.
Sign 4: no refund terms
Find the refund policy before you pay. A strict policy is normal for this kind of service: our refund and cancellation policy says an order is final once the reservation has been issued. The warning sign is no policy at all, or terms you only see after paying.
Sign 5: no real contact details or business identity
A genuine seller can be reached outside a single chat window. Look for a business name, a working WhatsApp number or phone line, and a contact page. A seller who answers only from an unlisted personal number, and whose business name appears nowhere, is hard to hold to anything. Run the same test on our contact page.
Signs in what the seller promises
Two kinds of promise mark a seller as untrustworthy, however professional the site looks.
Sign 6: promises of visa approval or "embassy approved" badges
No document guarantees a visa, and no seller can honestly say an embassy has approved its documents. The officer decides on the whole file: funds, ties to home, travel history and purpose. A seller that promises "100% approval", shows an "embassy approved" badge or says it is "accepted by every consulate" is claiming something it cannot back up. DTV is not affiliated with any embassy, consulate, visa application centre or airline. How embassy checks work covers what is known about checks.
Sign 7: offers to edit, backdate or add a ticket number
A reservation has a booking reference but no e-ticket number, because the fare has not been paid. A PDF sold as a reservation that shows an e-ticket number, or a seller offering to change names on an existing PDF or produce a ticket for a past date, is offering an altered document. Submitting one can get a visa refused, and in the UK can lead to a 10-year bar; fake flight tickets and the rules on deception sets out the consequences.
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A flight reservation with a PNR you can check on the airline website. ₹699 per passenger, delivered in 10–20 minutes.
Signs in what the seller asks for
A seller that asks for more than a booking needs is a warning sign. A reservation is made from the passenger names as printed in the passport, plus the route and dates. DTV asks for those, with date of birth, nationality and an email address or WhatsApp number, and needs no passport scan and no account.
Sign 8: requests for passport scans, OTPs or card PINs
A seller that wants a passport scan sent over chat is asking for more than a booking needs; sharing passport details safely explains what is reasonable. Never share a bank OTP, card PIN, CVV or net banking password with anyone. No genuine payment needs you to read those out.
Sign 9: payment to a personal-style handle
Pay only through the method the website itself shows, such as a checkout page you opened yourself or a QR code on the site. A request in chat to pay a UPI handle or bank account in a private person's name, with no link to the business name on the site, is a reason to stop.
Dummy ticket scam signs at a glance
| Sign | Warning sign | What a genuine seller does |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | PNR not found on the airline's website | PNR opens with the right name and flights |
| 2 | No sample, or described only in words | Sample published on the site |
| 3 | Extra fees appear at checkout | Price published and fixed |
| 4 | No refund terms, or shown only after payment | Written policy you can read first |
| 5 | Chat only, unlisted personal number | Business name, working number, contact page |
| 6 | Promises "100% approval" or claims to be "embassy approved" | Describes a reservation, promises no visa |
| 7 | Offers edited, backdated or e-ticket-numbered PDFs | Issues a new reservation when dates change |
| 8 | Asks for passport scans, OTPs or PINs | Asks for names, dates of birth, nationality, route and dates |
| 9 | Payment to a personal handle sent in chat | Payment method shown on the site |
A buyer's checklist for any dummy ticket provider
Run this on any seller you are considering, including us. Steps 1 to 5 happen before you pay; steps 6 and 7 happen when the reservation arrives.
Look at the sample
Check the seller shows a sample document before you pay.
Write down the price
Note the exact figure for your passengers and route, and confirm nothing is added at checkout.
Read the refund policy
Find it before you pay, and note when an order becomes final.
Check who you are paying
A business name, a working contact number, and a payment method shown on the site itself.
Watch what it asks for
Names as in the passport, dates of birth, nationality, route and travel dates. No OTP, PIN or password.
Verify the PNR when it arrives
Open it with the surname on the airline's own website before you submit it anywhere.
Time it to your appointment
Receive the reservation the day before you need it, since a hold does not stay live indefinitely.
Comparing sellers on published prices and delivery times is a separate job, done in our dated comparison of dummy ticket websites.
If you already paid and nothing arrived
If you paid and received nothing, or a PNR that does not exist, act the same day. Message the seller once with your order ID and keep the reply. Then take screenshots of the advert, the chat and the payment confirmation, with the UPI transaction reference or card transaction ID, before anything is deleted.
Paid by card
Call your card issuer, say the payment was for a service that was not delivered, and ask it to raise a dispute. Card disputes have time limits, so ask for the deadline on the call.
Paid by UPI or bank transfer
Raise a complaint through the UPI app you paid with and with your bank, quoting the transaction reference. A payment you made yourself is treated differently from an unauthorised one: RBI's rules on unauthorised electronic transactions cover payments you did not make, not a payment you sent to a seller. They matter if further payments appear that you did not make. If you shared an OTP or card details, those rules say you bear the loss until you report it to your bank, and the bank bears any loss after that, so call your bank the moment you notice.
Report it
In India, file a complaint on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal or call the national helpline, 1930. Both are run by the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre under the Ministry of Home Affairs. If you are outside India, report it to your card issuer or payment provider and to your own country's fraud reporting service.
- Order ID, advert, chat and payment screenshots saved
- Card issuer or bank contacted, with the transaction reference
- Complaint filed on cybercrime.gov.in, or 1930 called, if you are in India
- A replacement reservation ordered from a seller that passes every check above, with time left before your appointment
Frequently asked questions
Does a low price always mean a scam?
No. Published prices for a flight reservation vary a lot between sellers, and DTV charges ₹699 per passenger for one-way or return. The warning signs are a price that changes between the quote and the checkout, and a cheap tier that the seller's own page says cannot be verified with the airline. What a low price really buys weighs the trade-offs.
Is a strong online rating proof that a seller is genuine?
No. A rating tells you about other people's orders, and you cannot check who left it or what they bought. It cannot tell you whether the reservation you receive exists. The test that proves that is whether its PNR opens on the airline's own website with the right name and flights, using the steps in how to verify your PNR.
Can a generated PDF pass the same check as a genuine reservation?
No. A generated PDF prints a booking reference that no airline system holds, so it fails the same lookup that exposes a scam. Why a dummy ticket generator fails a check explains how the lookup works and what a genuine reservation looks like instead.
What is the difference between a delayed order and a scam?
A delayed order comes from a seller who still answers you and still delivers, later than you hoped. At DTV the typical time is 10 to 20 minutes after payment is confirmed, and our terms say weekends, holidays and busy periods can push that back. A scam is a seller who stops replying, sends nothing, or sends a PDF whose PNR does not exist. Message the seller with your order ID first.
Does RBI's zero-liability rule cover a seller who did not deliver?
Not for the payment itself. RBI's rule covers unauthorised electronic transactions, meaning payments you did not make yourself. A payment you made to a seller who then did not deliver is a dispute with the seller, handled through your card issuer or bank. The RBI rule matters if further payments appear that you did not make. If you shared an OTP or card details, you bear the loss until you report it to your bank, so report at once.
How do I know if a provider, including DTV, is genuine?
Run the checklist in this article on us too. Read our refund and cancellation policy, look at the sample dummy ticket, and check the PNR you receive on the airline's own website before your appointment. DTV is not affiliated with any embassy, consulate, visa application centre or airline, and no document from us or anyone else can guarantee a visa.
- National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal, Ministry of Home Affairs
- Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), Ministry of Home Affairs: National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal and helpline 1930
- Reserve Bank of India: Customer Protection, Limiting Liability of Customers in Unauthorised Electronic Banking Transactions (6 July 2017)
This guide is general information, not legal or immigration advice. Visa rules change and consulates apply them differently, so confirm the current requirements with the embassy, consulate or official visa application centre before you apply.