CoWIN Users Get ‘Your Account Blocked For Exceeding Our Search Limit’ Message, Here’s Why

CoWIN OTP errors have now been resolved for users trying to book their second dose of Covaxin. Viewers had been complaining that they were receiving “USRAUT0018” and “Generate OTP Failed” messages while trying to book their second dose. However, while this issue is being addressed, viewers have been facing another problem.

Several beneficiaries have been locked out of their accounts after multiple attempts were made from their end while trying to book slots on the CoWIN platform. All such users are now receiving the following message: “your account is blocked for exceeding search limit. Please read our terms and conditions”. Until this date, there has been no mention from the Government of India on the number of times users can search for slots on CoWIN.

“I am also facing the new error “errorCode”:”USRAUT0030″, “error”: "Your account is blocked for exceeding our search limit, please read our terms of service.” Does anybody have an idea how much time they take to solve this problem?” asks Sakshi Yadav on Dataquest. “I am now getting the message as “Your account is blocked for exceeding our search limit. Please read our terms of service”. Where are their terms mentioned on login? How can a government develop such an app without mentioning terms to their users? Now how are I and my family supposed to get vaccinated for 2nd dose? asks Saurabh.

Why Does CoWIN Display Your Account Blocked For Exceeding Our Search Limit’ Message?

Earlier today, a viewer brought to our notice that this particular functionality may have been introduced to block auto-bots or bad agents from automatically booking slots on CoWIN. The platform, however, may be confusing genuine users trying to book slots repeatedly with bots. “As per the helpline number 1075, the error is due to multiple login attempts. They mentioned during my interaction that if we don’t try logging in till 24 hours, the error will resolve by itself. The root point still remains, if someone is not getting the slot, then they will try multiple times. Thus instead of blocking auto bots/hackers they have started blocking genuine users as well. Bad technical implementation by the team who has built this app,” said Manish Nair to Dataquest.

“I got a phone call from CoWIN support that my number was banned because I generated 200 OTPs in one day and this is Unnatural. I told him this is natural only since there are no slots and I need to try hundreds of times every day,” said Bhavesh Joshi.

How to Unblock Account on CoWIN Portal?

The only options available to unblock CoWIN accounts are to either wait for the issue to resolve by not attempting to log in or generate OTPs for a few hours at least or call 1075. Although, citizens have been complaining that the helpline numbers either do not take calls or have no satisfactory responses when they do answer the following helpline number has been offering some resolutions: 0120447322.