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With the growing popularity of credit cards among people across all ages driven by its ease of payment and discounts on offer, the demand and use of airport lounges have also increased manifold. Credit cards are the most widely used mode of payment for access to airport lounges in India, thanks to a variety of discounts, offers, and packages made available by various companies.
However, the rampant use of credit cards also makes it vulnerable to cyber scams and frauds. In a serious allegation levelled against the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) in Bengaluru, a woman has claimed that she was duped of Rs 87,125 by the airport lounge personnel. The woman posted a video on social media platform X, where she narrated the incident that led to the alleged credit card scam.
In the video, which is now doing the rounds on social media, the woman said that upon arrival at the Bengaluru airport on September 29 around "5 hours earlier" than the scheduled time of departure of her flight, she wanted to go to the lounge. She said that since she did not carry her credit card along with her, the lounge personnel asked her for an image of her credit card, for it to be scanned.
After this, the airport lounge authorities allegedly asked her to download an app called 'Lounge Pass', which, according to her, was used to carry out the scam. "So I was told to download something called a Lounge Pass app.. because they asked me to do that, I downloaded it, and it was very odd that they said there has to be a screen sharing, and they have to do a face screening because it's for security purposes, which I did..", she said in the video.
The woman then claimed that after a few days, she was taken aback when she found out that Rs 87,125 had been debited from her account, as per her credit card statement. "I got my credit card statement, and suddenly (I saw that) Rs 87,125 was swiped on my credit card. It was transfered to PhonePe at 6.44 pm in Bengaluru," she said.
"What basically, I think, has happened is that this Lounge Pass app that they asked me to download, the screen sharing...they have gone into my phone, they have gotten into my settings; they have done a call forwarding, so I didn't get any calls.. I don't know how many of my OTPs they have had access to.. I don't know how much of that is possible, I don't have a tech background, so I don't know.. A cyber crime case has been reported," she claimed in the video, accusing the Bengaluru airport lounge personnel of potential cyber scam.
The allegations haven't been proven yet as she said the cybercrime department was probing the matter.