Credit Card Compromised

Just and FYI, my son had his credit card compromised, either while checking in for our Explorer OTS cruise, or when making purchases in Cozumel. It is suspected that it happened while checking in for the Explorer for the following reasons:

1. There were 2 charges to the card from RCCL on our disembarkation date. One was for his charges (matches his bill), the other was for $233.00 which he has NO IDEA what they are for. We don't know if it was for someone else's account or what, but I'm sure we'll find out, as we disputed the charges.

2. There were 4 VERY LARGE gas purchases (ranging from $100-$125 each) made on 1/9 (our disembarkation date), 1/10 and 2 on 1/11. They were made in West Palm Beach (2) and Lake Worth (2).

The card has since been cancelled, but I just wanted to warn everyone to be extra cautious of their credit cards, especially in Port Canaveral, as we do not know how the card was compromised.

Unfortunately, this stuff happens all the time. Anywhere. We were out of town when I got a call from one of my cards asking if I'd made a HUGE purchase halfway across the country....of course, I hadn't, so my card was cancelled....good thing I had another that was fine!!

Seems like there's a compromised about very 2 years, on average. Big pain in the rear.

One should be vigilant about credit cards at all times. I don't know that Port Canaveral is any more prone to fraud than any other place. But thank you for the reminder.:)

It is a pain, we just had 1 of ours compromised after a cruise last Month out of fort Lauderdale. I really hope something like the new apple pay catches on. We use cash for eating out, tips, drinks, and all small stuff, except the hotels. We used this card once before and once after for hotels before/after so we are pretty sure where the problem was, at one of the hotels. We always use a different card for the cruise.

I’ve worked with credit card fraud for years. Just some info on the gas purchases. The first place a stolen (duplicate etc) card is used is a gas station. If the card works, then the thief knows the card has not yet been reported as stolen/compromised and can be used at other places. If the card is declined, the thief leaves the card, drives away and avoids any confrontation with store clerks. Glad you looked closely at the charges and did not just pay the statement.

We’ve found that certain banks are more cautious than others when “watching” the card charges. Some will flag a charge and cancel the card; others will contact the user first.

Beware that many phishing schemes use a “compromised card” email to get other banking or computer info. If correspondence starts with “Dear Valuable Customer” instead of your name, it is likely a scam. If the letter lists the first 4 digits of your card, rather than the last 4 it is likely a scam.

Hope this helps someone.

M

Your bank should have shut the card down the first day with two gas purchases. That's the first thing security software checks for fraud. Shame on your bank for not closing the card. They lost more money than they should have.

I also don't understand why a criminal would have waited until you left the ship to start using the card. I'm going to assume the only time your card was swiped by RCI was when you checked in at Port Canaveral. The timing makes no sense.

I've learned never to say never, but my bank has not been informed of any data breeches at RCCL. I thinking with the timing, someone other than RCI compromised your card.

None of this is your fault, but 'being careful' is kind of nebulous. All of the major credit card companies guarantee you $0 liability (as well as federal law). About the best you can do is monitor your card online, and report fraudulent charges in a timely fashion, which is exactly what you did. But I'm never afraid of using my cards, that's why I have them.

I was watching Dateline or 20/20 one of them type of shows and it shows how fast someone can compromise your credit card with a credit card reader and they can even detect it threw your purse or wallet.

I know when I travel I have the sleeves I put my credit cards in, so they are suppost to stop people from stealing your cards wirelessly . Also I dont use my credit card at skethcy or unknown places. For that I always have cash. and always have a back up card :)

Sorry your card was compromised. As far as Royal Caribbean's charges - one was correct the other was and unknown $233 - wouldn't it have been easier to call Royal and ask what the $233 was before disputing that charge?

Card had to be shut down due to the fraudulent charges - doubt Royal Caribbean's charge was fraudulent - either a "hold" charge or an error.

About 1 1/2 years ago, around the time of my last cruise, I heard of a credit cards being compromised during check-in at the port in NYC. As a side note, at this particular port, the people checking you in are NOT employees of the cruise line. Could happen at anytime and anywhere. Do your best to keep your credit cards secure but, unfortunately, its a fact of life in the world we live in.

Your bank should have shut the card down the first day with two gas purchases. That's the first thing security software checks for fraud. Shame on your bank for not closing the card. They lost more money than they should have.

 

I also don't understand why a criminal would have waited until you left the ship to start using the card. I'm going to assume the only time your card was swiped by RCI was when you checked in at Port Canaveral. The timing makes no sense.

 

I've learned never to say never, but my bank has not been informed of any data breeches at RCCL. I thinking with the timing, someone other than RCI compromised your card.

 

None of this is your fault, but 'being careful' is kind of nebulous. All of the major credit card companies guarantee you $0 liability (as well as federal law). About the best you can do is monitor your card online, and report fraudulent charges in a timely fashion, which is exactly what you did. But I'm never afraid of using my cards, that's why I have them.

Must vary greatly by bank. As we drive we end up stopping for gas 5 times in a 24 hour period in 5 different states. Never had our card declined except once 2 days later when we tried to use it at Seaworld. Turns out it was compromised at one of the gas stations that we stopped at.

Must vary greatly by bank. As we drive we end up stopping for gas 5 times in a 24 hour period in 5 different states. Never had our card declined except once 2 days later when we tried to use it at Seaworld. Turns out it was compromised at one of the gas stations that we stopped at.

You are correct the location is important. Most cards would be shut down for two gas purchases in the same locale. As someone pointed out, the first fraudulent purchase is usually at a gas station because it is anonymous.

Edit: Just adding, if you own a business and multiple gas purchases are common, the card would not be shut down. It's all about uncommon acts.

Just and FYI, my son had his credit card compromised, either while checking in for our Explorer OTS cruise, or when making purchases in Cozumel. It is suspected that it happened while checking in for the Explorer for the following reasons:

 

1. There were 2 charges to the card from RCCL on our disembarkation date. One was for his charges (matches his bill), the other was for $233.00 which he has NO IDEA what they are for. We don't know if it was for someone else's account or what, but I'm sure we'll find out, as we disputed the charges.

 

2. There were 4 VERY LARGE gas purchases (ranging from $100-$125 each) made on 1/9 (our disembarkation date), 1/10 and 2 on 1/11. They were made in West Palm Beach (2) and Lake Worth (2).

 

The card has since been cancelled, but I just wanted to warn everyone to be extra cautious of their credit cards, especially in Port Canaveral, as we do not know how the card was compromised.

Did you report it to RCI. A couple of years back, Royal had some employees that knowing the local passengers were on a cruise, robbed their homes. I don't remember exactly, although one of my colleagues was a victim. But they tracked it back to RCI Employees. I do believe an arrest or many were made and compensation in the form of a cruise was given to the many victims. So I think they'd like to know as maybe it happened to others.

You are correct the location is important. Most cards would be shut down for two gas purchases in the same locale. As someone pointed out, the first fraudulent purchase is usually at a gas station because it is anonymous.

Good point. The few times ours was compromised the first fraudulent purchase was either at a gas station or an on-line company.

We also debarked on 1/9/15 from Explorer. Went straight to Budget rented a car, stopped at Race Trac for drinks. When we got back in the car received a fraud prevention call from our CC company. There was authorization for $1 for Apple and immediately following a $60 for Microsoft of which neither were ours. They closed down DH card immediately & overnights him a new one.

We had used the card while visiting our daughter before boarding the ship & for another Budget Rental when we dropped a car before boarding.

At least our CC caught it quickly.

Our card was never used during the trip & my card (with a slightly different number) was used for check in at Port Canaveral and was not compromised.

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I have my cards set up that any charge over $1 is reported to me through email. It creates a lot of emails, but at least I can see any false charges almost right away.

Gwen :)

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The credit cards I used to check in on two of my three cruises were compromised. In both cases the card was a card I almost never use that was only used at check in and not in any ports or on any other trip expenses. I guess the check in people figure that most passengers will be off the grid and unable to check their statements for long enough for them to make a quick profit.

In both cases I caught it quickly since I have that card set up to email me for every purchase (since I use it so rarely).

I find it a bit disconcerting that two people on Explorer have had their cards compromised. If I remember correctly, Explorer was the only ship that required the full credit card number during online check-in.

When there was the CC compromised from Home D our bank immediately cancelled our cards and issued us new ones even though no charges had been made that weren't ours.

I find it a bit disconcerting that two people on Explorer have had their cards compromised. If I remember correctly, Explorer was the only ship that required the full credit card number during online check-in.

I sailed EX probably over a dozen times, and have never entered more than the last 4 digits...on ANY RC/X cruise..

I now usually say I will pay cash, and either do that, or wait til I am on the ship to give them my CC...been there, done that, got the T-shirt a few times and it's a pain in the rear....

Not that it doesn't happen but there are so many sources from where a credit card can be compromised that you can't assume it was the most recent point of sale. Retail servers get hacked or some unscrupulous employee of a financial institution steals the data and it is sold. I've investigated cases where new cards have been stolen out of mailboxes and card applications have been filed in others names using the current address as the last address. Those card numbers aren't always used right away. Those small purchases are always made to see if the card is still active no matter when it was compromised.

PS: Any mail you receive with your information on it should be shredded before disposal, especially loan and credit card offers.

Must vary greatly by bank. As we drive we end up stopping for gas 5 times in a 24 hour period in 5 different states. Never had our card declined except once 2 days later when we tried to use it at Seaworld. Turns out it was compromised at one of the gas stations that we stopped at.

Gas stations transactions alone are not sufficient justification to shut a card down although they definitely need watching.............

When I worked credit card fraud, I would track the gas station stops based on time & location. It's pretty easy to see someone driving across country, or from their home state to Florida. Especially if they stop to eat &/or sleep.

IMHO, there's nothing a cardholder can do to prevent a compromise. Theft & loss, yes, but compromise is out of your hands.

I find it a bit disconcerting that two people on Explorer have had their cards compromised. If I remember correctly, Explorer was the only ship that required the full credit card number during online check-in.

Bob, we cruised on Explorer recently and that was not the case. Just the last 4.

I sailed EX probably over a dozen times, and have never entered more than the last 4 digits...on ANY RC/X cruise......

It was some sort of experimental thing Royal was doing with very recent EX cruises. It started the same time people started noticing their EX SetSail passes did not have signature lines.

Bob, we cruised on Explorer recently and that was not the case. Just the last 4.

We were on the 12/4 EX cruise and had to enter the entire CC number. Maybe Royal decided that was not a good idea.

We were on the 12/4 EX cruise and had to enter the entire CC number. Maybe Royal decided that was not a good idea.

When we did our online check-in, it only asked for the last 4 digits of the credit card. I DEFINITELY think it was something that happened at the port, but probably by another passenger vs. a RCCL employee.

As a previous poster mentioned, there are machines that can read your CC through your purse. I suspect that someone read his card info and created a new card, but with his own name on it. THEN during the cruise, went down to guest services to give them that card to use for the onboard purchases.

To answer a previous poster's question about timing - I believe the perpetrator was on the cruise with us, and did not have the opportunity to use the card stateside UNTIL we got back from the cruise, which they did at 11:00 AM on 1/9 in W. Palm Beach, for $100.00 worth of gas.

There is a reason I have not contacted RCCL yet. This is not something a rez agent can take care of. It must be handled by RCCL's accounting dept. Do you have ANY idea how hard it is to get someone from RCCL corporate on the phone? I do, as I am a TA and have had to do this MANY times for clients. IMHO, if I dispute the charges, someone from RCCL will contact me, making my hold time with RCCL negligible.

If it was a CC hold, it will fall off and no one will be out anything, otherwise, they can contact us and justify how/where the money was spent.