I'm not sure the best scams are particularly elaborate. The two times I've lost out have been simple, but preying on fight / flight instincts.

I think airports provide an advantage to tricksters in that it isn't a daily or stress free environment for most of us anyway, and that provides great opportunities for distraction techniques to be used since you see any unexpected event as a risk to the outcome you want (ie, getting on the plane). You get a sense of relief when you get a BP afterall, so your guard is down .

If it helps at all I had a similar event at HYD or nearby when getting a BP but checking my phone for last minute messages. For whatever reason I left it at the check-in desk, and realised this while emptying pockets ready for security. I went hurtling back pretty sure that it had been 'accidentally' lost in the desk paperwork, etc and discovered that the chap who had been dealing with me was no longer there, which also rang alarm bells. But the young lady now there connected my agitation with a message left by her colleague and simply reached out to hand it to me whilst still dealing with current pax. No drama whatsoever needed .

So if it helps you feel better maybe it was just an unfortunate combination of events that they couldn't help you recover from. Unless the phone is not locked of course ...