‘Is there a scam going on?’: US-based Indian couple alleges ‘duty-free fraud’ at Delhi airport

When her husband questioned the staff about the practice, employees reportedly said the passports were being scanned to check for “offers”.

“After checking the offers, they said if you buy one chocolate, you will get 10% off on the second chocolate. What is this nonsense?” he said.

The explanation led him to question why the passports of non-purchasing family members needed to be scanned. “Is there some kind of scam going on at IGI where you scan everyone else’s [passports] and smuggle items outside under the names of people who haven’t even bought anything from duty-free?” he asked.

He also questioned whether travellers’ personal information was being collected without their knowledge. “And this is about that duty-free shop right after you exit immigration at IGI – that very first duty-free shop.

“Or is the scam about taking your personal information without your knowledge or consent and creating some kind of database out of it?” he added.

He further said such practices could also leave a poor impression on international travellers visiting India and questioned why the passports were scanned in the first place.

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A post shared by Pooja Tomarr Sikarwar (@pooja_umreeka)

The video drew reactions from other Instagram users, with some claiming they had encountered similar requests for personal information at airports and on flights.

“Welcome back to new version of the India,” one user wrote.

“This is happening from many weeks not just at duty free sometimes on plane they just give you a form and force to fill details and when we ask them about the purpose of form they don’t tell anything and sometimes after landing at airline desk they do the same thing and forcefully take all personal information including passport details,” another user claimed.

“It is big scandal I have seen myself they target blue collar people also who come from Middle East,” a third user commented.

The official Instagram account of Delhi airport responded to Sikarwar’s video and asked her to share more details so the matter could be investigated.

“Dear Pooja, We sincerely regret the inconvenience caused. We request you to kindly share more details about your experience, including your contact number and passport details, through our ‘Contact Us’ page: https://bit.ly/ContactDELAirport so that we can investigate the matter and assist you further,” the airport’s official handle said.

Delhi Duty Free also responded in the comments, writing, “Dear Pooja, We regret for the inconveniences faced by you. Request you to share the order details so that we can intervene and get back to you at earliest.”