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Dynamite News
Dynamite News
National
DN Bureau

Bengaluru: Woman downloads app to get lounge access, loses over Rs 87,000

Victim Women photo

Bengaluru: A woman lost over Rs 87,000 in a possible scam at Bengaluru Airport when she tried to access the lounge before her flight. Since she didn’t carry her credit cards, she showed a photo of her to gain access. The lounge staff then asked her to download an app and undergo a face screening for security purposes. She followed the instructions but realised the scam after receiving her credit card bill.

Despite downloading the “Lounge Pass” app on September 29, the woman never used the lounge facilities. She instead grabbed a coffee at Starbucks before her flight.

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A few days after her trip, people told her that they were unable to reach her by phone. Initially, she blamed this on Airtel’s network issues, which she had been experiencing for months. Then somebody told me why is a male picking up your phone,” the woman said now in the viral video.

Upon further investigation, she found that over Rs 87,000 had been charged to her credit card and transferred to a PhonePay account. She now suspects that the scammers accessed her phone through the app, enabling call forwarding and possibly intercepting OTPs to complete unauthorised transactions.

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“This lounge pass app that they asked me to download, the screen sharing. They have gone into my phone, gotten to 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 access to and how much of it is possible”, she explained.

She has since filed a complaint with cybercrime department, informed her bank, HDFC and blocked her card.

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