Warning Credit/ Debit cards Cloning

[zider]

I have been reading of a case of card Cloning at Southampton Cruise terminal or aboard the Q.M.! I tend to think that it is at the Terminal & not on board the ship, There was a spate of card cloning at Southampton a couple of years ago where the device that reads your card at check in shore side had been compromised to illegally clone the information on your cards, So it looks like they have stuck again! so check your card statement's for fraudulent use.

[Fifer]

Now that's interesting! We had a card cloning problem after boarding QE in September for the Round Britain. At the time, we put it down to a dodgy taxi driver; perhaps we were wrong. Any one else had this experience?

[sanne]

We embarked on a cruise, not Cunard, from Southampton last August. We received an email not long afterwards from our bank saying they had temporally cancelled our card pending a phone call from us to verify some transactions that looked suspicious, and they were. We thought our card had been compromised during our stay in England but now it seems likely that this may have been done at Southampton terminal. We'll be watching out for it next year when we sail again from southampton.

[mean jean]

I find this news of card cloning very disconcerting. What are Cunard doing about this? We sail on the 8th of Dec and I am now very concerned about handing my card over for it to be swiped as they request when checking in.

 

This situation should be sorted out as quickly as possible as I can't see anyone wanting to hand over their card to any of Cunards employees. Sadly for their staff it puts them all under suspicion which is unpleasant for the innocent ones.

 

I have had this happen a long time ago and it was very worrying and very stressful trying to sort it out with the credit card company who suggested my husband must have used the card without me knowing!!!!

[icat2000]

Doesn't the chip cards help reduce this problem?

[fg_hb]

I don't think that the cards are compromised during the embarkation process and Cunard has nothing to do with that.

In my opininion the cards were cloned while using an ATM while getting some local currency.

 

In my opinion debit and credit card with chip are not really more secure than the older cards. In many countries the ATM can't read the chip and as backup solution the magnetic stripe is read.

 

In Germany some Banks are restricting cards now and the cards can only used in the home country unless you call your bank to remove the restriction for the countries you need for a period of time.

 

This is safe, but it's more complicated than in early times

 

Frank

[Fifer]

Now that's interesting! We had a card cloning problem after boarding QE in September for the Round Britain. At the time, we put it down to a dodgy taxi driver; perhaps we were wrong. Any one else had this experience?

 

UPDATE

 

On reflection, I have realised that Cunard could not have been involved in my cloning incident as I used a different credit card on embarkation from that I had used with my taxi.

 

Apologies if I have set any hares running. For the record, I have no reason at all to think there is any problem with using a credit card when embarking on a Cunard ship.

[ovccruiser]

A question, the people who embark you onto the ship and take your details, are they Cunard/Carnival employees or port authority employees? There are a number of cruiselines who use Southampton terminals and many of the staff seem to be the same with a different uniform on.

[capnpugwash]

I have been reading of a case of card Cloning at Southampton Cruise terminal or aboard the Q.M.! I tend to think that it is at the Terminal & not on board the ship, There was a spate of card cloning at Southampton a couple of years ago where the device that reads your card at check in shore side had been compromised to illegally clone the information on your cards, So it looks like they have stuck again! so check your card statement's for fraudulent use.

 

Without wishing to perpepuate this thread, could you please advise just where you read this information.

[gentlemancruiser]

I would be VERY surprised if Cunard was involved and the card readers in the port terminals are linked into the ships system. CC companies require thier merchants to set up alot of security features. If there was more then one occurance of cloning from a merchant the CC company would go after the merchant.

 

As previously menionted it was most likely an ATM machine.

[Jimsgirl]

I live in the USA so do not have to use the terminal in Southampton, however in the interest of being helpful may I suggest that you use the same precautions as I do.

 

Before going on a trip I phone the card company and advise them of the dates of my travel,the places I would be using my card (hotel, ship,airport). This is a card with a high credit allowance that I use only for actual travel. I like to know that if I am ever stranded I can always get home.

 

If I were to go ashore I would use another card with a small credit allowance, but I would still take the precautions of advising the company that I might be using the card in ****** naming the ports I would be visiting with the dates. This is the card I use at the terminal

 

This will prevent thieves from runnning up huge amounts in a number of places you are not visiting.

 

On board of course anything you purchase goes to your on board account. I do check this every 3-4 days, as mistakes can happen, and you should deal with them as early as possible rather than finding them on disembarkation day.

 

The staff at the terminal are not Cunard employees per se, they are more likely to be some unknown to you ,sub contract staff, not necessarily bad , but just unknown .

 

 

 

 

 

I have a se

[Bell Boy]

Without wishing to perpepuate this thread, could you please advise just where you read this information.

 

 

Jim, This thread first appeared on the 'other forum' and was posted by 'marianne coventry'. (who by the way travelled on QM2 departing Brooklyn 17th Nov)

 

She informs us that her bank told her " all transactions took place while onboard the ship" ?? which doesn't make sense, surely the only method of payment whilst onboard is our key card ?

 

What is not clear is , what sort of card was cloned , credit or debit ? and did marianne spend any time in NYC before departing Brooklyn ?

 

Bell Boy:)

[Cruachan]

Jim, This thread first appeared on the 'other forum' and was posted by 'marianne coventry'. (who by the way travelled on QM2 departing Brooklyn 17th Nov)

 

She informs us that her bank told her " all transactions took place while onboard the ship" ?? which doesn't make sense, surely the only method of payment whilst onboard is our key card ?

 

What is not clear is , what sort of card was cloned , credit or debit ? and did marianne spend any time in NYC before departing Brooklyn ?

 

Bell Boy:)

 

Bell Boy, I've now read the post by Marianne Coventry and I am as puzzled as you are. I also thought that the only valid means of making a transaction on board the ship was by using your cruise card. And I thought that the system was that the cruise card charged the items to your onboard account and that, at the end of the cruise, a single charge for the total amount was made to the credit card account that you registered on embarkation.

 

If this is indeed the case how would the CC company know that "all the transactions were made on board the ship" and that "all were made by signature and not by PIN". I find the whole thing distinctly strange. I'm not suggesting for a second that it didn't happen, I'm simply saying that I don't think it's as cut and dried as the CC issuer would like it to appear.

 

J

[capnpugwash]

Jim, This thread first appeared on the 'other forum' and was posted by 'marianne coventry'. (who by the way travelled on QM2 departing Brooklyn 17th Nov)

 

She informs us that her bank told her " all transactions took place while onboard the ship" ?? which doesn't make sense, surely the only method of payment whilst onboard is our key card ?

 

What is not clear is , what sort of card was cloned , credit or debit ? and did marianne spend any time in NYC before departing Brooklyn ?

 

Bell Boy:)

 

Spooky how Brooklyn became Southampton, I know a Marianne who disembarked in NYC on 17th!

[Cruachan]

Spooky how Brooklyn became Southampton, I know a Marianne who disembarked in NYC on 17th!

 

Cap'n,

 

the relevant line of the post made yesterday in the "other place" reads:

 

"I have just returned from New York on Cunards Queen Mary 2."

 

I suppose it could have been a B2B which presumably would have put her back in Soton on 24 Nov. The extra week between arriving and posting could be accounted for by the delay in discovering the problem with her card.

 

J

[capnpugwash]

Cap'n,

 

the relevant line of the post made yesterday in the "other place" reads:

 

"I have just returned from New York on Cunards Queen Mary 2."

 

I suppose it could have been a B2B which presumably would have put her back in Soton on 24 Nov. The extra week between arriving and posting could be accounted for by the delay in discovering the problem with her card.

 

J

 

Hmmm the plot thickens.:eek:

[Bell Boy]

Hmmm the plot thickens.:eek:

 

 

Hmmm...you can say that again ;)

 

 

 

Bell Boy:)

[Bell Boy]

Hmmm the plot thickens.:eek:

 

 

 

Hmmm... you can say that again;)

 

 

 

 

Bell Boy:)

[capnpugwash]

Such wit :)

[Underwatr]

I interpreted "while onboard the ship" to mean that the poster's account was emptied while she was on the cruise, not necessarily that anyone onboard had participated in the emptying. I'm understanding that the card was skimmed prior to boarding (whether as part of the pre-boarding process or not) and then cloned and used while she was on the cruise.

[Cruachan]

I interpreted "while onboard the ship" to mean that the poster's account was emptied while she was on the cruise, not necessarily that anyone onboard had participated in the emptying. I'm understanding that the card was skimmed prior to boarding (whether as part of the pre-boarding process or not) and then cloned and used while she was on the cruise.

 

I have quoted the relevant section of the post from the other forum below. The original post on this forum could certainly be interpreted in the way you describe, as could the first part of what "Marianne Coventry" said. However the second part of the quote is entirely unambiguous.

 

"All the transactions were done whilst we were aboard the ship and they were all done by signiture not pin number. The bank said it must be someone on the ship that had access to my bank details."

 

I have a sneaky feeling that another confounding factor in all of this may have been a communication failure between MC and her bank.

 

J

[zider]

Without wishing to perpepuate this thread, could you please advise just where you read this information.

I am sorry that has taken me a while to reply but my I.S.P has been down all day, How do i know of this happening! It is Through personal emails not a web site!. The person involved is adamant that the card was not used anywhere apart from at check in at Southampton & no where else & that purchases where made on the card whilst they where on the ship & that the card companies fraud department are now investigating the case.

[heywood]

I am sorry that has taken me a while to reply but my I.S.P has been down all day, How do i know of this happening! It is Through personal emails not a web site!. The person involved is adamant that the card was not used anywhere apart from at check in at Southampton & no where else & that purchases where made on the card whilst they where on the ship & that the card companies fraud department are now investigating the case.

 

 

'Whilst they were on board' could still mean used elsewhere (not on the ship) in their absence whilst they were on board. However, presumably, you are saying that purchases were made on QM2 and debited to their credit card, at the same time as they were on QM2 and making purchases/settling accounts using that credit card.

Perhaps somehow it is a mistyped digit.:confused:

[Bell Boy]

I am sorry that has taken me a while to reply but my I.S.P has been down all day, How do i know of this happening! It is Through personal emails not a web site!. The person involved is adamant that the card was not used anywhere apart from at check in at Southampton & no where else & that purchases where made on the card whilst they where on the ship & that the card companies fraud department are now investigating the case.

 

 

Tuggy, don't be such a Drama Queen;) we are all Cunarders and we are all well known in the 'Other place'.!

 

There is no need for private emails...

 

Bell Boy

[zider]

Tuggy, don't be such a Drama Queen;) we are all Cunarders and we are all well known in the 'Other place'.!

 

There is no need for private emails...

 

Bell Boy

I know of at least 4 other places! the the one i am writing about is private emails not a website.