Woman loses over ₹87,000 in lounge scam at Bengaluru airport. Viral Video | Bengaluru

A video of the unnamed woman is doing the rounds on social media in which she talks about her ordeal. The incident occurred on September 29, she said. A social media user shared the video and added, “This scam happened inside the Bengaluru International Airport on a person using an iPhone, which I consider as evidence of fraud. “Protect your hard-earned money people!”

She was traveling without her credit card and hence showed a photo of a credit card in the lounge of Bengaluru airport to gain entry. The lounge staff then instructed them to download an app called “Lounge Pass” and complete a facial recognition process for security reasons. After following these steps, she was shocked to later discover the fraud when she checked her credit card statement.

Despite downloading the app, the woman never actually used the lounge, opting instead for a coffee at Starbucks before her flight, she said.

A few days after the trip, friends told her they couldn't reach her by phone. Initially, she attributed this to ongoing issues with her Airtel service that she had been experiencing for months. However, when someone mentioned that a man had been answering her calls, alarm bells went off, although she denied it at the time for personal reasons.

The situation took a dire turn when she discovered that her credit card was being charged an unauthorized total of more than 10% ₹87,000, transferred to a PhonePe account. She suspected the fraudsters had accessed her phone through the app, setting up call forwarding and intercepting one-time passwords (OTPs) to enable the unauthorized transactions, she said.

Watch the full video here:

The woman has since reported the incident to the cybercrime department, alerted her bank and blocked her credit card to prevent further losses.

Cybercrimes have become increasingly common in Bengaluru, particularly related to courier services and digital arrests.