GA Travel Irregularity

[chungus338]

hi everyone, i have received the first letter. i am not sure whether this is a fishing email so i fess up (i am buying wrong ticket to pass the barrier at the end of my journey, not sure if anyone needs to hear this but i am extremely poor), i was considering to ignore the letter since i don’t know to what it will amount and the price of an admin fee is already unaffordable, but i recalled the time a few weeks/month ago when i tried entering the station with a wrong ticket and it beeped in error and i was apprehended and asked how old i was (it was a child’s ticket) i lied, which was clocked by the person that stopped me after which i lied again somewhat successfully (this probably reads as i have no shame but i am really broke) and they told me to get out (i cannot recall whether they scanned my ticket apart from me scanning it on the barrier). this context is why i think this is not just data related, but the letter says “Re: Trainline”.

please, advise me if this pretext is what set it off and whether it is more serious this way and what i should do now.

Good afternoon

I am emailing from the Greater Anglia fraud department; we have been investigating industry data and have been led to believe you are potentially not paying full fares on Greater Anglia services. There appear to be a number of incorrectly purchased tickets showing on your account that are a breach of our terms and conditions and considered fraudulent activity.

Attached is a letter for you to read.

Please respond within 7 days to potentially settle this case.

Kind regards,

Revenue Protection Fraud and Investigations Team

Re: Trainline Account
We have been investigating industry data and have been led to believe you are potentially not paying full fares for the rail services you have been using.
This activity has been highlighted as potentially fraudulent.
We view this as a serious issue, and we have taken this step to contact you, with an outlook to resolve this matter with you efficiently.
We invite you to respond to this letter within 7 days by email to [email protected] quoting the reference number

 

[Hadders]

In order to be able to assist you properly we need to know more information. Please can you have a read of the post linked below and let us have that information.

Please read before posting in Disputes & Prosecutions

Guidance for those asking for advice: Please bear in mind the following, when asking for advice in this section: We need to know all relevant facts in order to assist you, including, for example: The stations* where you actually started & finished your journey The stations* where you changed...

www.railforums.co.uk

 

[chungus338]

In order to be able to assist you properly we need to know more information. Please can you have a read of the post linked below and let us have that information.

Please read before posting in Disputes & Prosecutions

Guidance for those asking for advice: Please bear in mind the following, when asking for advice in this section: We need to know all relevant facts in order to assist you, including, for example: The stations* where you actually started & finished your journey The stations* where you changed...

www.railforums.co.uk

i am not sure if names of the stations will help, please tell me if given my scenario i am wrong. i was travelling from A to B without a ticket, but was paying for a child’s return C to B. it just feels like incriminating myself rn, i do get that i’m just paranoid because of this love letter

 

[furlong]

Well once again, I think we see a very unprofessional and badly-phrased letter from a train company that really ought to be able to do better. If this was me, I'd ignore it as it sets out neither an appropriate relevant legal framework nor any specific allegations. Worse its sloppiness may be considered to be significantly misleading, which may potentially undermine the use of any response as evidence.

If they wish to discuss the incident when you were spoken to, then they should of course refer to that specifically.

If they wish to discuss anything else, then they should take the utmost care to do this professionally.

Obviously though you must cease whatever you've been doing wrong immediately - always buy the correct tickets before boarding trains from now on.

 

[Fawkes Cat]

Obviously though you must cease whatever you've been doing wrong immediately - always buy the correct tickets before boarding trains from now on.

I'd fully agree with this: we're not making a moral judgement, but the railway will insist on you having the right ticket. If you don't then you will end up in court, which will be expensive.

i was apprehended and asked how old i was (it was a child’s ticket) i lied,

But on the basis of this, it's quite likely that you would be able to buy one of 3 Railcards (16-17 Saver, 16-25 or 26-30). Depending on when you travel and how often, these might save you money in future.

 

[chungus338]

I'd fully agree with this: we're not making a moral judgement, but the railway will insist on you having the right ticket. If you don't then you will end up in court, which will be expensive.


But on the basis of this, it's quite likely that you would be able to buy one of 3 Railcards (16-17 Saver, 16-25 or 26-30). Depending on when you travel and how often, these might save you money in future.

i luckily was just able to move somewhere with no train station and very nice bike infrastructure, so there my pathetic chungus fraudster arc should end.

if i do need to use train services, will there be any use of deleting trainline account associated with the email i got my love letter to/getting a new account to buy tickets? should i change the bank account/card i’m making payments with? is there another app that is as good (can’t believe trainline sold my a** like that i loved it so much TT). don’t bother replying if you don’t wish to, i will try and do my own research. thank you for your advice

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 16 Jun 2025 ==

If they wish to discuss the incident when you were spoken to, then they should of course refer to that specifically.

this is what confused me, since i saw on this board people posting travel irregularity reports for the specific activity they made on a certain date, which made me question whether my incident was the reason i’m receiving a letter, but then why is my letter is the generic one

 

[Pushpit]

this is what confused me, since i saw on this board people posting travel irregularity reports for the specific activity they made on a certain date, which made me question whether my incident was the reason i’m receiving a letter, but then why is my letter is the generic one

There are essentially two groups of letters that feature here:
- "We know you were up to no good on 14 May at such-and-such station, now 'fess up or you are going to jail"
- "Our computer sees some patterns of behaviour which suggests you've been doing dodgy stuff for a while", so a fishing trip.

The first is typically being handled by a prosecution unit, they almost always have the evidence at this point for a successful prosecution of a strict liability offence, and those working there generally know how to pursue the matter correctly. A bit of a sausage machine, standard templates, formal English used.

The second, from which your love letter emanates, is more likely to come from a digital fraud team, who aren't working tightly to a prosecution rulebook, but are looking for you to provide the self incriminating evidence that the train company is too lazy to collect. Via a combination of threats and blandishments they seem to get their customers (or non customers) to do most of the legwork. So non specific, less of a template and sometimes full of syntax errors.

As for where to buy your next ticket, then it doesn't actually matter if you buy it from Trainline or not, just so long as it is the right ticket for the right train and purchased before boarding. Buying tickets isn't the crime, it's what you do on the day which can be one. However there are a lot of better apps out there, including one that sponsors this site (see top area of this site's main screen).

 

[duffield]

...

if i do need to use train services, will there be any use of deleting trainline account
...

On this specific point, don't do this. All it does is mean *you* can't access your account. The data remains available for investigation if required.

So deleting your account will only disadvantage you. You don't need to use it again, just don't delete it.

 

[chungus338]

There are essentially two groups of letters that feature here:
- "We know you were up to no good on 14 May at such-and-such station, now 'fess up or you are going to jail"
- "Our computer sees some patterns of behaviour which suggests you've been doing dodgy stuff for a while", so a fishing trip.

The first is typically being handled by a prosecution unit, they almost always have the evidence at this point for a successful prosecution of a strict liability offence, and those working there generally know how to pursue the matter correctly. A bit of a sausage machine, standard templates, formal English used.

The second, from which your love letter emanates, is more likely to come from a digital fraud team, who aren't working tightly to a prosecution rulebook, but are looking for you to provide the self incriminating evidence that the train company is too lazy to collect. Via a combination of threats and blandishments they seem to get their customers (or non customers) to do most of the legwork. So non specific, less of a template and sometimes full of syntax errors.

As for where to buy your next ticket, then it doesn't actually matter if you buy it from Trainline or not, just so long as it is the right ticket for the right train and purchased before boarding. Buying tickets isn't the crime, it's what you do on the day which can be one. However there are a lot of better apps out there, including one that sponsors this site (see top area of this site's main screen).

i have now received the second letter:

Good afternoon

We have not received any contact from you; you were previously contacted in connection with the train tickets you have been purchasing when travelling through Norwich railway station.
Your account indicates that you have not been paying the full rail fare for the journey's you have made with us.
At this stage we would like to offer you an opportunity to explain these irregularities on your account and based on your response the decision will be to either (a) offer you the opportunity to repay any funds relating to the rail journeys where the correct fare has not been paid, an administration fee is added to all settlements; or (b) to forward you case to our prosecutions department or the British Transport Police for further investigation; or (c) to close the case and cease any further investigations into your transactions.
If we do not hear from you within the next 5 working days, we will pass your file to our prosecutions department or the British Transport Police for further investigation.
If your file is passed over, you will lose any opportunity to settle this case with us.
Kind regards,

Revenue Protection Fraud and Investigations Team

does this have more ground to it or is still a template letter, at this point should i be reconsidering?

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: Saturday at 17:43 ==

i am not sure whether the second email suggests that they have concrete evidence or not..

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: Saturday at 17:45 ==

does ‘not been paying full fare’ indicates it’s regarding child tickets or perhaps doughnutting TT

 

[30907]

i have now received the second letter:

does this have more ground to it or is still a template letter, at this point should i be reconsidering?

It doesn't appear to have, other than referring to Norwich specifically. I think you can still ignore it. GA will be reasonably pleased if you don't cheat again.

does ‘not been paying full fare’ indicates it’s regarding child tickets or perhaps doughnutting TT

Either or both, or misuse of railcard discount. I think you know which applies

 

[ohnoes]

They’re going to keep emailing you with threats because your ticket purchasing history matches the pattern of a fare evader.

It is up to you what to do.

The previous advice given in the thread still stands.

 

[Hadders]

Based on what you've told us you've not been paying the correct fare for your train journeys. This has come to Greater Anglia's attention. Basically you've got two choices:

1. Do nothing. Greater Anglia will continue to write to you threatening police involvement, prosecution for fraud etc. The important principle here is that purchasing tickets is not illegal but using tickets illegally is illegal. In order to successfully prosecute you Greater Anglia has to demonstrate to a court that you used the tickets and they are unlikely to be able to do this unless they caught you red handed. It's possible (but highly unlikley) that Greater Anglia does have evidence to link you to the use of the tickets such as CCTV.

2. Engage with Greater Anglia. They will offer you an out of court settlement costing if you pay them the fare for the journeys you've made using invalid tickets. They will charge you the full Anytime rate pus ad admin fee, typically £150. If you pay what they ask that will be the ed of the matter.

Only you can decide what to do. Essentially it comes down to your appetite for risk...