Credit Card Fraud

[LG123]

Just a heads up. I just added our credit card online for onboard charges for our upcoming cruise. About 15 minutes after that I got a call from my credit card company wanting to know if I tried to use the card for $250 at hotels . com and $423 for Jet Blue, which I didn't. My husband called Royal to let them know and all they said was they couldn't remove the card and that I would have to do it. So not helpful! Needless to say, our credit card company is cancelling our cards and issuing us new cards.

[I Church]

Oh my, we all have to use online credit card for onboard charges for our upcoming cruises. I wonder what this is all about. Did you do it from a computer at home or on-line on your smart phone at an unprotected wi-fi area.

Irene & Miles

[LG123]

4 minutes ago, I Church said:

Oh my, we all have to use online credit card for onboard charges for our upcoming cruises. I wonder what this is all about. Did you do it from a computer at home or on-line on your smart phone at an unprotected wi-fi area.

Irene & Miles

 

I used my laptop at home. I have done quite a bit of online shopping over the last week using my laptop with the same credit card and have not had any issues. Very strange!

[Clarea]

I never enter my credit card info on Royal's website.  I just opt for a cash account.  Then at check-in I give them the card to swipe to change to a credit card account.

[LG123]

3 minutes ago, Host Clarea said:

I never enter my credit card info on Royal's website.  I just opt for a cash account.  Then at check-in I give them the card to swipe to change to a credit card account.

 

I have never had an issue before.

 

This will be my first time with the new check in process. I saw that you could upload a photo online. Does this somehow bypass the check in counter where I would be able to add my credit card?

[bthodges]

6 minutes ago, Host Clarea said:

I never enter my credit card info on Royal's website.  I just opt for a cash account.  Then at check-in I give them the card to swipe to change to a credit card account.

Good idea I think I’ll start doing that too

[Clarea]

3 minutes ago, LG123 said:

 

I have never had an issue before.

 

This will be my first time with the new check in process. I saw that you could upload a photo online. Does this somehow bypass the check in counter where I would be able to add my credit card?

 

Someone still has to check your ID documents.  Tell that person you want to see a counter person.  They still have counter people, just fewer.

 

In the past, Royal would only ask for the last 4 digits of the CC, which I used to give them.  Recently,  they have been asking for the full credit card number, and I just can't bring myself to trust that to Royal's IT department.

[Ewing]

6 minutes ago, LG123 said:

This will be my first time with the new check in process. I saw that you could upload a photo online. Does this somehow bypass the check in counter where I would be able to add my credit card?

 

I had the new checkin process for the first time a few weeks back.

 

Still had to go to a check in counter but it was much quicker. They asked if I wanted to use the same card or a different one - so you can just change it then.

Worse case just leave it. Your card will decline when they process the card batch the night of your first onboard purchases and you can go to guest services to give them a new card. Happened to me once when it triggered a fraud block and my phone was off so I missed the call from my bank.

[Darkingnj]

6 minutes ago, LG123 said:

 

I have never had an issue before.

 

This will be my first time with the new check in process. I saw that you could upload a photo online. Does this somehow bypass the check in counter where I would be able to add my credit card?

 

Was on the Adventure last week, you still have to go to a counter even if you uploaded the picture online...you no longer have to read and sign a health statement, the counter person will ask if anyone has been sick recently.

[dcgrumpy]

In Miami most people were checked in with just a tablet. I did see a small counter area though with a couple of people working. I'm sure if you had to you could add a card there. I just left it as a cash account and paid the balance at the end of the cruise. 

[Johnamac123]

19 minutes ago, Host Clarea said:

I never enter my credit card info on Royal's website.  I just opt for a cash account.  Then at check-in I give them the card to swipe to change to a credit card account.

Great idea, Bob. I just changed mine to a cash account and will give them the card at check-in. You can't be too careful...

[Clarea]

4 minutes ago, dcgrumpy said:

In Miami most people were checked in with just a tablet. I did see a small counter area though with a couple of people working. I'm sure if you had to you could add a card there. I just left it as a cash account and paid the balance at the end of the cruise. 

 

That's another good way to avoid the CC thing.  Advantage to your way is you could get a cash advance at the casino with no 5% fee.  However, I expect that cash advance thing to go away soon.

[dcgrumpy]

2 minutes ago, Host Clarea said:

 

That's another good way to avoid the CC thing.  Advantage to your way is you could get a cash advance at the casino with no 5% fee.  However, I expect that cash advance thing to go away soon.

We actually did that too.

[cb at sea]

Happens all the time, everywhere!  I hadn't used my cards in weeks, and yet someone MADE a "fake" card and used in in CANADA...they actually SWIPED it on a terminal.  I got a call from the credit card company, asking if I'd bought $2600 worth of crap in Canada!  Lol!  I said, I don't even have a passport....how could I go there????  

They removed the charges and issued a new card.  Happens all the time.

[lizardhowson]

The timing with giving your CC# to RC and the timing of the fraud may just have been a coincidence. 

[ONECRUISER]

36 minutes ago, lizardhowson said:

The timing with giving your CC# to RC and the timing of the fraud may just have been a coincidence. 

Agree, will never know either way. 

[brillohead]

1 hour ago, LG123 said:

 

I used my laptop at home. I have done quite a bit of online shopping over the last week using my laptop with the same credit card and have not had any issues. Very strange!

This is most likely to be the source of your fraud..... 

 

 

[LG123]

7 minutes ago, brillohead said:

This is most likely to be the source of your fraud..... 

 

 

 

Oops. Mistyped that one! I had used another card for my Christmas shopping.  The card I added for my onboard account was one I use in person. Not saying it was related to the Royal Caribbean account but I do find it a bit of a coincidence that the 2 attempts were both for travel services.

 

I was just letting people know so they can keep an eye on their charges. I am glad my credit cards have the fraud protection. Nothing is safe these days!!

[blackshirt]

I have entered my CC number on every online checkin and never had an issue. I find it highly unlikely that Royal was the source of your credit card being compromised. If it were, Cruise Critic would have been bombarded with similar posts.

[Iamcruzin]

My credit cards and debit card have been hacked more times than I care to admit. I have alerts set so if a dollar is charged I know about it when it's still in pending mode. Not to highjack this thread but I would like to make you aware of something that happened to my 86 year old father. For over 60 years he has been paying the same electric bill with the same checking account. 

He received a call from the bank that someone has been writing checks with his account number. The checks were being written in places like Home Depot and Target in different states not where he lives.  He had no idea how this could happen. He didn't lose his check book and since he doesn't do electronic banking he had no idea since he hadn't received a current statement. His next electric bill arrived and he noticed that the last payment wasn't posted. He called the company and they never received his check. My brother who is a mail carrier told him that people were using a tool to dig the mail out of the mail box looking of checks. So either someone working for the electric company was dishonest or someone stole the electric bill with the check. 

My father is one of those people who won't use a debit card because he thinks someone will hack the account. He has a different attitude about it now.

Edited November 30, 2018 by Iamcruzin

[mugtech]

When I`m in the USA I take my mail to the local post office on my daily walk and hand it to the clerks, avoids that problem.

2 hours ago, Iamcruzin said:

My credit cards and debit card have been hacked more times than I care to admit. I have alerts set so if a dollar is charged I know about it when it's still in pending mode. Not to highjack this thread but I would like to make you aware of something that happened to my 86 year old father. For over 60 years he has been paying the same electric bill with the same checking account. 

He received a call from the bank that someone has been writing checks with his account number. The checks were being written in places like Home Depot and Target in different states not where he lives.  He had no idea how this could happen. He didn't lose his check book and since he doesn't do electronic banking he had no idea since he hadn't received a current statement. His next electric bill arrived and he noticed that the last payment wasn't posted. He called the company and they never received his check. My brother who is a mail carrier told him that people were using a tool to dig the mail out of the mail box looking of checks. So either someone working for the electric company was dishonest or someone stole the electric bill with the check. 

My father is one of those people who won't use a debit card because he thinks someone will hack the account. He has a different attitude about it now.

 

[blackshirt]

8 hours ago, Iamcruzin said:

My credit cards and debit card have been hacked more times than I care to admit. I have alerts set so if a dollar is charged I know about it when it's still in pending mode. Not to highjack this thread but I would like to make you aware of something that happened to my 86 year old father. For over 60 years he has been paying the same electric bill with the same checking account. 

He received a call from the bank that someone has been writing checks with his account number. The checks were being written in places like Home Depot and Target in different states not where he lives.  He had no idea how this could happen. He didn't lose his check book and since he doesn't do electronic banking he had no idea since he hadn't received a current statement. His next electric bill arrived and he noticed that the last payment wasn't posted. He called the company and they never received his check. My brother who is a mail carrier told him that people were using a tool to dig the mail out of the mail box looking of checks. So either someone working for the electric company was dishonest or someone stole the electric bill with the check. 

My father is one of those people who won't use a debit card because he thinks someone will hack the account. He has a different attitude about it now.

Something similar happened to my brother-in-law and a mortgage payment a few years back. In his case, he would leave his payment in his mailbox for the carrier to pick up rather than drop it in a mailbox, so we assume it was lifted from there. 

[bowler15547]

This is why you should use a credit card in the first place. I never carry cash with me or use my debit card. Every day I spend the credit card companies money and at the end of the month I pay them. You are not liable for fraudulent charges on a credit card and they will refund them in a short time. Debit cards will take forever working with your bank, and cash is just gone if that gets stolen. People think that when they have fraud on their credit card its the end of the world, when in reality its the safest form of payment out there. Just make sure you check it.

[orville99]

I have a Royal Caribbean Visa card that I only use for purchasing RCL cruises and for onboard charges, and Visa has had to replace it 5 times so far because of fraudulent charges on the card. It has never been used for anything else. The only time the CC# is ever provided online is directly on RCL's booking site, yet RCL continuously denies that the problem is at their end of the pipeline. So I have absolutely no doubt that the cause of the OP's fraudulent charges stems directly from the interaction with RCL.

 

BTW,the one time I used a different CC to book a RCL cruise, that card also had to be replaced due to fraudulent activity on the card.

[LrgPizza]

Is your wifi secure?  That seems more likely. We'd hear about this ALL THE TIME if the issue was with RCI.