Scams are happening every day in the country. The methods are changing every day. Hackers are also changing their tactics to cheat people. People are being cheated every day. Now a new kind of scam is happening through the Lounge Pass app. Trusting the airport, people are downloading the Lounge Pass app for lounge facility but this app is spying on people and also withdrawing money from their account. Many people have complained about Lounge Pass on social media.

Story of the victims of the Lounge Pass app
A user on X posted a video in which a woman was described as the victim of this scam. This post has now gone viral and has received more than 5,000 likes and more than 2,100 reposts. The woman says that this incident happened on September 29 at Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru.

She said that she had forgotten her credit card at home, but she had a photo of it. To enter the lounge area, she showed the picture of the credit card to the lounge staff. The attendants there allegedly asked her to download the 'Lounge Pass' app.

The victim also shared a screenshot of a WhatsApp chat in which the scammers sent her a URL to download the app. They allegedly asked the victim to share her screen and do a face scan for "security reasons". After this, she was given access to the lounge.

The victim claims that after a few weeks, people told her that her calls were not getting through and when they did, there was no response, and sometimes a "man" spoke when she picked up the call. She came to know about the scam when her credit card bill came and she saw a transaction of Rs 87,125 in a PhonePe account. Call forwarding had been enabled by changing the settings of her phone without her knowledge.

Cyber ​​security confirmed this scam.
The threat research team of cyber security company CloudSEK confirmed this scam through its Open Source Intelligence (ONST) investigation. Researchers found that several domains were being used to share the Lounge Pass app. Investigation revealed that the scam was done through an SMS stealing app, which takes control of the device as soon as it is installed.

Scammers steal sensitive information through this app and take control of SMS and calls. They then transfer money to the bank account and intercept the OTP, whether it is sent through text message or call. According to the report, between July and August 2024, about 450 people installed this app and were cheated of more than Rs 9 lakh.