Bengaluru woman loses over Rs 87,000 in airport lounge scam: Here’s what happened

A woman traveling through Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru was the victim of a complex scam, losing over Rs 87,000 in a fraudulent scheme related to access to the salon.
The woman, identified as Bhargavi Mani, shared her ordeal in a now-viral video, raising awareness about the deceptive tactics employed by scammers. Mani explained that she couldn’t find her physical credit card, so she tried to enter the airport lounge by presenting a photo of the card to the staff.

Instead of traditional verification methods, salon staff allegedly asked Ms Mani to download a specific app and perform a facial scan for “security purposes”. Trusting the staff, Mani downloaded the app, later identified as “Lounge Pass.” However, she opted not to use the lounge and decided to have a coffee at Starbucks instead.
Later, Mani noticed that she could not receive phone calls, initially attributing this to network issues. However, the situation became alarming when she realized that strangers were answering her calls. Upon investigation, Ms Mani found that unauthorized transactions totaling over Rs 87,000 had been made on her credit card, transferred to a PhonePe account.
She suspects the downloaded app was malware that allowed fraudsters to access her phone, redirect her calls and intercept one-time passwords (OTPs) used for online transactions. Mani has since reported the incident to the cybercrime department, alerted his bank and blocked his credit card to prevent further losses.

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