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Scammers posing as Carnival Cruise Line customer service representatives are tricking passengers into giving away personal information and money.
Here’s how to spot these bad actors — and protect your vacation dollars.
Carnival Cruise Line is not charging passengers a docking fee – it’s a scam
Arthur L. just had a simple question about his upcoming cruise, so he googled Carnival customer service.
“I dialed the number that was on display and a man answered,” he explained. “I thought it was odd that he needed all of my information since my question was generalized, but I gave it to him.”
That was a mistake. Inadvertently, Arthur had given a con artist all the information needed to conduct his scam.
The fraudster ignored the question that Arthur had called about, instead alerting him of Carnival’s new “docking fee.” If Arthur paid the $650 per passenger fee while they were on the phone, he would receive a $200 discount. If he chose to wait to pay on board the ship, there would be no savings.
Arthur briefly considered paying the docking fee, but something about the demeanor of the “Carnival customer service” agent seemed off. The man on the other end of the line seemed too eager to process the payment. The fact that he had entirely ignored the original reason for Arthur’s call also raised concerns.
More cruise fiascos: Our flight delay caused us to miss our Princess cruise! Did we just lose $21,000?
In the end, Arthur thanked the man for his time and hung up. Then he signed into his Carnival account and his suspicions were confirmed: The number he’d called wasn’t the cruise line at all.
But now he had a more urgent question for the real Carnival Cruise Line. Arthur needed to know what to do now that a scammer tricked him into sharing his reservation number.
Two passengers, same scam
Arthur’s story isn’t unique. Just weeks later, Amy S. had her own brush with a fake Carnival customer service line — and it followed the same playbook.
Related: 2 more cruise ship passengers report being scammed in the Bahamas
You do not have an outstanding balance on your cruise account – it’s a scam
Amy had a few questions of her own for Carnival before her upcoming cruise. She also used Google to quickly search for the cruise line’s number on her phone.
“When the agent asked for my reservation number, it didn’t seem odd since I had specific concerns,” she says. “So I gave it to him and I heard him tapping away on his computer.”
What he asked for next did seem odd. Extremely odd.
“He told me I had an outstanding balance of $1,300 and if I didn’t pay it immediately, Carnival would cancel my cruise,” she recalled. “I knew I didn’t owe anything, but he was so sure of himself and sounded concerned for me.”
Similar to the scammer whom Arthur encountered, this bad actor’s urgent insistence that Amy pay immediately set off alarm bells. She hung up and went straight to her computer to check the status of her cruise. As she suspected, it was paid in full.
However, now she had the same problem Arthur had because she shared her reservation number with the scammer.
Scammers pretending to be Carnival customer service online
I’ve been covering the plague of scam call centers for several years. I’ve investigated and reported on this Internet invasion for The Points Guy, AARP, and Fodor’s Travel, among other media outlets, in an effort to warn travelers and other consumers.
Previously, these fraudsters focused primarily on impersonating customer service of major airlines, booking agents like Expedia, and car rental companies.
Related: Help! Fake United Airlines customer service charged me $1,750 service fee
But as Google’s AI overview feature began to roll out, I started to notice scam call center numbers appearing there for Carnival Cruise Line customer service.
Just today I googled Carnival Cruise Line complaints, and only two numbers were being highlighted in the Google AI overview, which is the first thing searchers see. One of those numbers was a fake Carnival customer service line – a scam call center.
As I often do, I called both numbers on display to see who was behind those digits. The first number was Carnival, but there was a lengthy wait to speak to someone. The second number was a scammer who answered immediately with the nondescript “Reservations. How can I help you?”
When I asked him what kind of reservations, he paused, clearly not sure what to say. He had no idea where I found his number. He then said, “Dear, I handle reservations for United Airlines.”
Wrong answer.
I said I was trying to reach Carnival Cruise Line, and he quickly assured me that he could handle my problem. This fraudster just needed my Carnival reservation number to “help” me.
It’s not hard to see how a cruise passenger in distress wanting to make a complaint and reach a human right away could be tricked into calling the number. And some Carnival Cruise Line passengers are being tricked and losing money.
Related: We lost $800 to a car rental gift card scam
Of course, even the cruise ship passengers who don’t hand over any cash to the scammers have a problem. There is a lot that a bad actor can do with a reservation number. But even worse, some travelers who have contacted me have shared their passport information at the insistence of the anonymous person on the other end of the phone call.
So what then?
What to do if you’ve given your personal details to a scammer
If you’ve discovered too late that the number you found on Google was not the official customer service line for the company you were trying to reach, you need to protect yourself from identity theft. That’s true even if you only shared your reservation number. With that information, scammers can cancel your cruise just to be spiteful and cause you to lose the money you spent on it.
Related: Royal Caribbean let my frenemy cancel my cruise!
Here’s what to do if you’ve shared personal details or documents with a fraudster pretending to be your cruise line.
- Call Carnival Cruise Line (1-800-764-7419) to secure or change your reservation number.
- Alert your credit card company and replace your card if you shared details.
- Report possible identity theft at IdentityTheft.gov.
- Report compromised passports to the U.S. Department of State and get a replacement.
1. Contact Carnival Cruise Line to report your problem
If you’ve shared your reservation number, then you’ll need to let Carnival know immediately. The actual number for Carnival Cruise Line’s customer service is 1-800-764-7419. The cruise line can change your reservation number or protect the one you have by marking it so that no one can make modifications remotely.
2. Alert your credit card company
If you’ve provided more detailed information to a scammer, including your credit card number, then your next call should be to that company. You’ll need to have your credit card number changed and an alert placed on your account noting the breach.
Your credit card company may have a free or low-cost identity monitoring program as part of your membership. If so, you should consider it.
3. Report your possible identity theft to the Federal Trade Commission
The Federal Trade Commission operates a program for consumers to report identity theft and receive a free recovery plan at Identitytheft.gov. If you’ve shared more than just your reservation number and credit card, this can be an enormously valuable resource.
4. Report a stolen or compromised passport to the U.S. Department of State
Recently several travelers contacted me after falling for one of these scam call centers. Unfortunately, they had not only shared their reservation numbers, but also their passport information.
If you’ve shared your passport details, you are at extreme risk for identity theft. Beyond the other tips here, you must report your compromised passport to the U.S. Department of State (that’s assuming you’re a U.S. citizen, of course.) Your passport will be flagged and you will not be able to use it again. You’ll need to get a new passport – one that scammers don’t have access to. Here’s how to report a lost, stolen or compromised passport.
Of course, if your cruise is imminent and you need your passport to board the ship, you’ll be faced with another problem. Current passport renewal times are estimated to be 4 to 6 weeks. Here’s how to get your passport more quickly. You may even be able to get it renewed on the same day, depending on your location.
How Carnival cruise passengers can spot and avoid this fake customer service scam
The best way to handle scam call centers is to completely avoid them. Here’s how to spot the fraudsters so you don’t call them in the first place.
Examine the URL of the site that is offering the number
When searching for ways to reach customer service at a company, your impulse might be to call the first number you see in the Google search results. The scammers depend on you not looking closely at their listing before making the call. Unfortunately, Google search results are not reliable for company contacts. If you understand this basic fact, you’ll be one step ahead in the game of avoiding scammers.
Always take a look at the URL of the site providing the customer service contact information. If it isn’t associated with the business you’re trying to reach, ignore it. Unfortunately, if you don’t, you’re likely to be led to a place where the only help provided is to a scammer – helping himself to your money and identity.
If you’re trying to escalate your complaint to a real person at Carnival Cruise Line, you can send your request for free help to Consumer Rescue via Your Research Valet. We can give you the name and contact information of a real person whom we know has a history of helping customers.
Scammers are lurking in all your favorite Facebook groups and Reddits
Social media is a great place to make “friends” with common interests. There are numerous Carnival Cruise Line Facebook groups and Reddit threads created by people who have a desire to share experiences and discuss the cruise line.
Unfortunately, representatives of the scam call centers flock to these groups pretending to be fellow cruisers. Their only purpose is to mine your information and to drop the number of their phony customer service center.
Recently, Carnival passengers have reported receiving calls and emails from “Carnival” with the same spiel about docking fees and other outstanding balances. The genesis of this scheme was likely in a social media group.
Be careful about what you share publicly on Facebook and elsewhere. If you use your actual name and post your cruise information (date and ship), that’s all a scammer needs.
Related: Verizon customers beware of phone scammers pretending to be helpful agents
The bottom line
Unfortunately, scammers aren’t going away. The cases in my inbox prove online criminals are only getting craftier with their methodology. It’s important that you familiarize yourself with their latest tactics so you can avoid falling prey.
If you find a scam call center in the Google search results, make sure to flag and report it. Google makes reporting scammers easy: Just click on the three little dots beside the listing. Then you can give your feedback for that listing. Alternatively, you can report scam sites and pages directly to Google here.
If you’re already a victim of a fake Carnival Cruise Line customer service (or any other scammer), send your request for help to Consumer Rescue. I’ll be happy to give you personalized guidance and help you navigate the situation in the best way possible. (Michelle Couch-Friedman, Founder of Consumer Rescue)
Before you go: We missed our Carnival cruise. How do we get a refund?
