Bhargavii Mani is a social media-famous Kolam artist and communication designer from Chennai. Recently, she became a victim of a deceptive credit card scam at Bengaluru's Kempegowda International Airport.
Bhargavii, who runs the popular Instagram and YouTube channel "Kolam Podu," shared her experience in a viral video on Instagram where she detailed losing over Rs 87,000 ($1,000 USD) due to a scam.
How Airport Lounge Scam Unfolded
On Sept. 9, Bhargavii was at the airport waiting for her flight. Since she did not have an actual credit card, the lounge staff asked her to download an app in order to gain admission to the lounge. Business Insider reported that Bhargavii did so and downloaded what she assumed was the official "lounge pass" app on her iPhone.
She evaded making use of the service provided by this lounge and instead went to Starbucks. It was only later that she realized her credit card had been misused for illegal transactions.
An amount of Rs 87,000 was transferred to PhonePay accounts without going through the usual channels of taking calls and getting OTPs for the validation process.
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Chennai Artist Immediately Reported About the Scam
Bhargavii noticed the scamming immediately and reported it to the cyber crime department. She also contacted her bank, which blocked the credit card to ensure that she would not incur more losses. She did some follow-up videos where she explained, through the screenshots of the transactions, how the scammers operate.
Furthermore, she clarified that she did not involve airport authorities in the scam but wanted to expose the dangers of downloading apps without any verification.
Bhargavii Cautions People Regarding Airport Lounge-Credit Card Scam
Bhargavii further added that she had done a residential NLP program and was carrying only the minimum luggage with her, so she was not carrying her physical credit card also. She said she uses Google Pay most of the time and thus didn't think anybody could scam this much at such a reputed airport either.
Netizens Respond With Cyber Warnings
The controversy has gone viral, with different debates online concerning the legitimacy of the app and security arrangements in the airport. Many internet users warned to be careful when it comes to applications and which permissions to grant.
One user took his warning via social media, advising his friends to only give application access if it is necessary, especially a microphone, camera, and SMS.
As Mashable spotted, another netizen warned that even foreign visitors should be vigilant in India since it's rapidly becoming the new scam capital of the world.
Watch Your Digital Wallet Closely
Bhargavii's experience is a wake-up call concerning the importance of online safety, specifically while traveling. Though fraud does get sophisticated, one must not be careless, ensure the authenticity of the apps, and, in general, double-check the safety while making any monetary transactions over the internet.
For phone scammers, Apate rolled out its AI bots to combat this security threat. In our previous report, the expert behind this solution even pranked the scam caller and gave them a dose of their own medicine by wasting their time. This way, they can't prey on others who might fall into their trap.
