Anyone else got fraudulent charges from Jamaica?

[missybirchfield]

:mad: :mad: We were on a cruise recently and discovered that some charges were put on our card.

[phtktz3]

:mad: :mad: We were on a cruise recently and discovered that some charges were put on our card.

I was on a cruise recently and some charges were put on my card too.

Missybirchfield, any chance you can be a bit more detailed about this?

[missybirchfield]

We were on RCCL, Rhapsody of the Seas, we went to Ocho Rios, Jamaica and due to weather had to go to Montego Bay Jamaica, the next day, then Cozumel, Grand Cayman, Ft. Lauderdale and back to Galveston.

 

The charges that showed up on our card:

 

Indies Pub & Grill - Kingston 10 - $989.45

 

Neo Classical Presentation - Kingston $313.76

 

Eddie's Esso Company Ltd - Kingston 10 - $74.21

 

Mah-Lee's Esso S/Station Kingston 17 - $53.37

Mah-Lee's Esso S/Station Kingston 17 - $44.36

 

 

We shopped at the Royal Shop right by the dock. This is a jewelry store. My hubby had his watch repaired there and he gave them his credit card, the guy took it to the back and then came back and said that they could not put less than $20.00 on his card. They did not tell him the cost for repairs until they came back out with his card.

[kelleigh229]

But it happended to us in Mexico on our honeymoon.

 

We'll do the best we can to pay cash from now on. Our credit card company was great but it still was a hassle.

[PTarbay]

This has happened to a lot of people.I never use a credit card while visiting the islands.This kind of thing is more common than you think.

[missybirchfield]

This will be an eye opening experience. Hope the credit card company will make it right.

[racephoto]

This happened to me in Miami of all places. It was later determined to be an employee of the hotel we stayed at pre-cruise. Just goes to show there are crooks all over the world. :-( Now one of my co-workers just found out someone used a fake id and withdrew $5000 from his bank account in another state! Identity theft takes all forms these days.....it's really something. Takes some chutzpah to walk up to a teller and steal like that!

[sherry7]

Wow! Credit card companies seem to be pretty familiar with handling stuff like this now, so hopefully you won't have any problems getting it resolved. Just a tip: besides calling them, also write a letter just to cover your a$$.

 

I only used a credit card once internationally, and that was at the marketplace at Labadee. I later thought better of it, and held my breath until the charge came through correctly. However, I have been the victim of domestic credit card fraud. My credit card company called me once and asked me if I was trying to make a $1100+ purchase at Mikasa.com (and have it shipped to another address). Of course, it wasn't me, and they cancelled the card and sent me a new one.

[kbaker]

This happened to my boss recently. She went to South Dakota (we're from Kansas) and only used her card once or twice for dinner and few weeks later the cc co. called and asked her if she was making purchases in Florida. :eek:

[missybirchfield]

Just got off the phone with the cc company. They immediately took all the charges off and canceled the card and are issuing a new one. WHEW!!

 

Don't think we will ever use a credit card out of the country again.

 

What I didn't tell you earlier in the post is that the same thing happened to another couple of people from this same cruise!

[sally r]

You might want to let Royal Caribbean know what is happening at their shop. Obviously they are cloning the cards in the back room. We all pay for credit card fraud one way or another. It really irks me that it is basically not a crime!

[shipknotshore]

You might want to let Royal Caribbean know what is happening at their shop. Obviously they are cloning the cards in the back room. We all pay for credit card fraud one way or another. It really irks me that it is basically not a crime!

 

Not such a bad idea if cruisers are shopping at RCI recommended shopping spots and this is happening. (I don't know that this is the case in the posts on this thread tho). I would hope that the cruise line most likely would be happy if their customers would report this type of thing happening in the ports they stop at - just to make us informed as places to stay away from or be aware of when using a credit card. We were lucky - we used our cc in Jamaica, Grand Cayman and Cozumel and nothing but our own purchases were charged.

[Megg]

Hope this is a helpful hint. When clerk returns your credit card, make sure it is yours. After our cruise we went to eat at Marriott in San Juan. My husband paid with our Am Exp card. A week later at home when he went to use it, it was refused. He called the number on the back of the card. Hung up the phone in disgust, he said they were talking in Spanish. Then he looked at the card, and realized it wasn't his. It belonged to some woman from San Juan. We then figured that the waiter at the Marriott must have switched cards. Took some time with Am Exp to get it straightened out. They had to issue us a new card. So always make sure it's "your" card that is returned to you! Meg

[missybirchfield]

Have sent an e-mail to Royal Caribbean. Waiting on a response. Probably will be Monday or Tuesday before we hear back from them. Yes, this was a ship recommended store.

 

 

 

Missy

[daveky]

This has happened to a lot of people.I never use a credit card while visiting the islands.This kind of thing is more common than you think.

 

Exactly....Being sailed on many cruises, and operate an accounting practice (tax returns, financial statements, working with loan departments, etc) for 30 years, I've seen the nightmares and abuses of credit card theft.

Always use cash in a foreign port.

I do still give my credit card to RCI for charges on my Sea Pass, but one time after getting home from a cruise got a call from my Credit Card company and charges were being made on the Sea Pass for extraordinary charges on the date we got off and others got on and the charges were being made in Miami and coming back on my Sea Pass. So apparantly, a cruise employee got my credit card info, was off the ship during passengers debarking and embarking and making charges. We stoped all charges on the credit card and had another one issued. Tried to contact RCI several......times to tell them about it and give them my acutal Sea Pass charges so they could put it on my new creidt card. After 5 plus attempts, never got a reply, even left my phone number to call back as couldn't get anyone and no reply. So, after tyring to be honest got all my charges for that cruise free. Pretty bad when you try to be honest. I guess RCI charge department didn't care, or didn't want the publicity.

 

Dave