American Express attempted fraud

[Mike Courier]

The only time I used my Amex card on our recent cruise on Explorer Of The Seas was to book a future cruise.

 

When we disembarked in Perth I used my lap to to log into my emails as I had been forewarned by others on board the ship to give the $US20 a day email deal a miss as it wasn't worth it.

 

One of the emails was an urgent notification from American Express asking me to contact them in Sydney which I duly did.

 

They explained that an attempt had been made in the USA to use my card details for the purchase of $US2000 of clothing and they noted that such a purchase was outside of my usual buying activity and they also noted that I had informed where I would be on cruise.

 

They stopped the attempted fraudulent purchase. I explained to American Express that the only time I had used the card was to put a deposit on a future cruise four days earlier. They said that 11 hours after I had used the card on board the ship the fraudulent attempt was perpetrated.

 

Also the Future Cruises desk did not issue a receipt for the deposit on the future cruise claiming there was a glitz in the system. Eventually they issued a hand written receipt. I have asked American Express to give me refund for the deposit as I have completely lost faith in RCI.

 

Has anyone else had credit card issues with RCI, particularly on Explorer Of The Seas as I would be very interested to know?

[CruiserBruce]

Sorry, but unless you tell us on the ship was the only place you have used your card in the last 6 months, your card number could have been gathered from a large number of locations. I doubt it was from on the ship...

Edited December 7, 2015 by CruiserBruce

[Mike Courier]

Also, I have tried to contact RCI without success on four occasions since our return to Australia. On My Cruises nothing is delineated to show that I have a future cruise deposit on Radiance Of The Seas.

 

On the hand written receipt there is no receipt number, no signature and no name of the office girl who handled the future deposit thus I have asked American Express to arrange a refund on the paid deposit.

[Mike Courier]

American Express are of the view that the card details were compromised through RCI or transmission thereto. The fraudulent attempt at purchase was made in Miami Beach, Florida.

[Kiwi Kruzer]

You should post this on the Royal Caribbean board as well .I believe someone from Head Office ...in the States , reads the boards daily.

 

 

 

Edited December 7, 2015 by Kiwi Kruzer

[RosieCanberra]

Oh wow, that doesn't sound good. I am going on Explorer in February on a sampler. Will keep an eye on our card account.

[goodycruising]

Finding that taking cash on board is more attractive all the time. :( There is nothing to chase up when you get home that way. Sure, they might steal something, but what they can access through credit cards and bank accounts can be a real worry.

 

I have heard that the skimming thieves do sometimes wait months before trying your card, and it is natural to look at the most recent transactions, but you would never really know, so I would not trust the Amex staff would have a clue either. When we had a NAB card issue the bank staff were non committal as to where it could have happened. Some people have the opinion that they are actually just trying random card numbers sometimes.

 

The way the internet is on these ships doesn't bode well for security being a priority, the IT staff seem to barely be able to get the system to be working on ship and on land the system ain't pretty either!

 

The future sales people seem to have the ability to lie to your face while trying several different stories, one after another, from my person experience.

 

So while I enjoy my cruising, and I don't believe staff at Royal would be any more or less honest than staff at local establishments on land, I can only say this seems to be the way the world is operating these days. Even our local police got hacked a while back while they were making holiday plans to go overseas.

 

People wonder why we have a bunch of different credit cards, and bank accounts. We look for fee free options, and spread around what little we have. We are keen to enjoy the money we work for, and look to keep the risk and costs down as much as possible.

 

It can get a bit disheartening at times, and I hope your things all get fixed up OK in the end.

[mr walker]

Every so often a thread is started on cruise critic saying that <insert name of cruiseline> stole my credit card details & some fraudulent use was attempted. Interestingly many ask if it has happened to others but rarely is there a positive response.

 

I travel extensively for business & in more recent years for pleasure. The way of the world is to use credit cards & I use them pretty much for 100% of transactions.

 

My cards have been 'compromised' twice. Once (personal card) only found out from bank, when they advised they were replacing our cards. Second (business card) our accountant noted high expenditure on my card & asked me. Saw a $3000+ airfare charged to card - an airline I had never travelled on. Contacted bank & series of transactions had been charged. Card cancelled & re-issued & 'fraud' charges were written off by bank.

 

Highly unlikely that RC agent stole your card details but possible. Likely 'stolen' by others. Beauty of cards is that you will not be held liable for fraudulent use.

 

Anyway, I will continue to lodge my cc with RC & others and use it elsewhere - there are safeguards in place, much safer & practical than carrying cash

[GUT2407]

Not good.

 

Did you tell the ship about it?

 

If so what did they say?

[The_Big_M]

What could they say, about the fraud?

 

They can certainly address the deposit issue, but there is no proof of who is behind the fraud, in a single instance. All they can say is something like sorry to hear that, suggest you take precautions.

[GUT2407]

If AMEX say it was compromised during transmission, I expect they should have answer of some sort.

[The_Big_M]

They didn't actually say it was compromised during transmission, just that it is a view, and that may have been when it happened. Nothing concrete there!

 

Basically, it's speculation, not proof, so not something factual that RCI could respond to.

[GUT2407]

They didn't actually say it was compromised during transmission, just that it is a view, and that may have been when it happened. Nothing concrete there!

 

Basically, it's speculation, not proof, so not something factual that RCI could respond to.

 

I would hope RCI would at least look into it, or even explain why it was impossible.

[celle]

To get back to the future cruise deposit the OP says was paid on board: It's odd that no paperwork was given to the OP about it.

As well as a receipt, we were given several pages confirming the cruise, dates, cabin we'd selected, etc.

[Mike Courier]

Further to the foregoing I have been advised by American Express that the deposit I paid with the future cruises desk on Explorer Of The Seas for the future cruise on Radiance in 2017 was sent to an account in Monrovia, Liberia.

 

I have continued to try to get some form of contact from RCI on the matters outlined but I have not had one form of communication, either oral or written.

 

As a new cruiser does RCI actually reply to emails or is there another portal I need to access in order to get some answers?

 

As a consequence, Amex has cancelled the card for the transactions on Explorer and will be issuing a new one within the next few days.

Edited December 7, 2015 by Mike Courier

[mr walker]

....does RCI actually reply to emails or is there another portal I need to access in order to get some answers?

 

My experience is that you normally get an auto-reply email within say a day saying they will respond in x days. Did you get anything back at all? If not I would check email address &/or call them.

[Mike Courier]

No reply, either auto reply, generic reply or personal reply. Their phone in Sydney asks me to press button 3, then music plays for 45 minutes with a recorded message stating ''ÿour call is important to us". After almost an hour I gave up.

[perditax]

I've had the same credit account compromised three times this year despite the fact that I am technically quite savvy and only use it for things like local dining and Amazon. They issue a new card number each time. None of my other cards get compromised. I've given up trying to figure it out. Just make sure you watch your statements like a hawk and enable all those fraud alerts. And trust me, the rep on the phone cannot tell you how your card was compromised or how to prevent it in the future. I think some groups are just doing brute-force attempts now (generating possible card numbers and trying online transactions with them till they get a "hit").

 

I've also finally started buying RFID blocking wallets.

[DT1304]

I don't think it has anything to do with RCI.

 

I am only going on my cruise in 2 weeks, and a few days ago I got an email asking me to contact the bank.

 

I did so, and they informed me that my AMEX card was compromised, and that someone tried to use it at a pharmacy in the USA.

 

Nothing showed up on my bank statement as they said they picked it up beforehand, and they stopped my card and have issued me with a new one.

[Kiwi Kruzer]

Further to the foregoing I have been advised by American Express that the deposit I paid with the future cruises desk on Explorer Of The Seas for the future cruise on Radiance in 2017 was sent to an account in Monrovia, Liberia.

 

I have continued to try to get some form of contact from RCI on the matters outlined but I have not had one form of communication, either oral or written.

 

As a new cruiser does RCI actually reply to emails or is there another portal I need to access in order to get some answers?

 

As a consequence, Amex has cancelled the card for the transactions on Explorer and will be issuing a new one within the next few days.

 

 

Did you actually make a booking for a specific cruise? If so some record of it must have been given.

[Pushka]

Surprisingly most scammers never use the physical card details to do their scams but obtain numbers through the internet, even if you have never used your card there.

[perditax]

Surprisingly most scammers never use the physical card details to do their scams but obtain numbers through the internet, even if you have never used your card there.

 

 

Can you explain this in a different way? Do you mean brute force card number generators?

 

(Technically knowledgeable AND I have one single card (of many I cycle through frequently) that keeps getting pwned, so I'm really curious now about modern theft methods.)

[Pushka]

Yes - just random bad luck if the numbers punch out. I had a card I hadnt even used - anywhere, ready for international travel. The card company called me to advise someone had captured the details and used it.

[Aus Traveller]

Yes - just random bad luck if the numbers punch out. I had a card I hadnt even used - anywhere, ready for international travel. The card company called me to advise someone had captured the details and used it.

Ouch.:( We had a card scammed years ago when the only way they could do it was take the numbers physically off your card. When the bank advised us a couple of weeks later, we worked out where it happened.

[lilly4350]

Further to the foregoing I have been advised by American Express that the deposit I paid with the future cruises desk on Explorer Of The Seas for the future cruise on Radiance in 2017 was sent to an account in Monrovia, Liberia.

 

I have continued to try to get some form of contact from RCI on the matters outlined but I have not had one form of communication, either oral or written.

 

As a new cruiser does RCI actually reply to emails or is there another portal I need to access in order to get some answers?

 

As a consequence, Amex has cancelled the card for the transactions on Explorer and will be issuing a new one within the next few days.

 

While many on here are doubting your story, I totally believe you because the same thing happened to us earlier this year on the Legend of the Seas. We booked a future cruise. Got all the correct paperwork etc so no problem there. We got home and I went on line to check our credit card. An extra $2000 had been charged onto our card in Los Angeles, starting from about 2 days after we had used the card for our cruise booking. They must have got enough information to actually make a replica card because it was used for fuel, meals etc. We had not used the card at all on our trip except to book the cruise. The bank dealt with the problem and we contacted RCL (I think we phoned them) but they just told us to take it up with our bank.

 

While we believe this happened somehow through RCL, it hasn't stopped us from cruising with them - it could happen anywhere, anytime. Our solution was to get a 2nd credit card which has a much smaller balance and we will be only using this one when we go overseas in future.