Himalaya Harbinger, Rudrapur Bureau
A woman fell victim to a scam at Bengaluru Airport when she attempted to use a lounge before her flight. Despite not having her physical credit card, she showed a photo of it to gain entry. The lounge staff then directed her to download an app and complete a facial scan for security purposes. Unbeknownst to her, this was a ploy to gain access to her personal information.
After downloading the “Lounge Pass” app, the woman never used the lounge but instead grabbed a coffee at Starbucks. However, she later noticed that she was unable to receive calls on her phone. Initially, she attributed this to network issues, but eventually realized that something was amiss when strangers were answering her calls.
Upon further investigation, she discovered that over ₹ 87,000 had been fraudulently charged to her credit card and transferred to a PhonePay account. She believes that the scammers exploited the app to access her phone, redirect her calls, and potentially intercept OTPs for unauthorized transactions.
The woman reported the incident to the cybercrime department, notified her bank, and blocked her card.
In a separate incident, 59 individuals in Hong Kong fell victim to a naked video chat scam, losing over ₹ 2 crore. According to the police, the victims were honey-trapped by online extortionists who convinced them to undress during video calls. The scammers then used the footage to blackmail the victims, demanding payments totalling more than HK$1.9 million (over ₹ 2 crore) to prevent the private videos from being leaked online or sent to their families. The Hong Kong police have issued a warning, urging people to be vigilant against such scams.
