Careful, folks! Today I received a suspicious email pretending to be from Carnival

[Miss Picante]

Early this morning I received an email from “funships@carnivalcruiselineemail.com”.  Hmmmm….

 

It had the Carnival logo at the top and then it said: “Urgent Reply Requested!  Please keep in mind your booking option”. Hmmm again. . . 

 

It then listed my name, the last four digits of my credit card, my booking number, the name of the ship and the February sailing date, and the date that final payment was due, which was today. It also included the amount of the final payment that was due.

 

All of this information was true.

 

The email then said that my credit card payment had been “declined by the issuing bank.”

 

It instructed me to contact the issuing bank .

 

Then there was this instruction: (exactly as written):

 

”If the problem has been corrected then, please contact our Reservations Department at (a phone number was given), to complete payment.  If payment is not received on time, the courtesy  hold will expire and the reservation will cancel.”

 

I thought this sounded weird ( have been a Carnival Fan Girl for several decades now), and not like Carnival does things, but I called the number.  Nobody said “Carnival” when it was answered.

 

Instead, I heard “This is Jessica on a recorded line, can you hear me?”

 

I said nothing and hung up.  Tried the number again and the same thing happened.

 

So I forwarded this suspicious email to my my Carnival personal vacation planner, who got back to me right away. She and said that she had personally just put the payment through after she received my email and that it went through fine and that we are good to go on the February cruise.

 

She said that the code she saw on my reservation was a “security matter”, whatever that means. She had no other information.

 

So the good news is that we’re set to go on our cruise; the bad news is that I don’t think that email was from Carnival at all and that someone has gained access to my email, booking information, and at least part of my credit card number.

 

Not likin’ it.

 

Has this happened to anyone else?

 

 

 

 

 

[starstruck05]

Update your password on your email and get double verification if you can. That's how scammers find out where you shop and spend money at and are able to get this information.  It's never that they hacked the actual company site. I work for certain company we all shop at and get calls all day with the same issue. Their accounts are all perfectly fine but it is sickly easy for scammers to hack your email over actually hacking your accounts on company sites. If they get get your info they probably wouldn't have used it to do anything actually with Carnival.

[Tiger0613]

That email address is legitimate.  It is where all the emails other than cabin confirmation emails come from.  All of the marketing, policy updates, excursion, and internet package emails I have received have been coming from that address since sometime in 2020.  I don't know about pre-cruise food and beverages since my last purchase was in December 2017.

[staceyglow]

Those scammers are getting more and more sophisticated

 

Glad to hear that you didn't fall for it.

Edited November 22, 2022 by staceyglow

[Badfinger]

Why in the world would you call that number provided in a suspicious email?  And twice? SMH....

 

Know just like phone numbers popping up on your phone, "from" emails can be manipulated to display as legit emails.

 

Just never ever never ever respond through an email (or text) or to any contact (phone, email) provided in that suspicious email.

[Pellaz]

5 hours ago, Miss Picante said:

 

[...]

I thought this sounded weird ( have been a Carnival Fan Girl for several decades now), and not like Carnival does things, but I called the number.  Nobody said “Carnival” when it was answered.

 

Instead, I heard “This is Jessica on a recorded line, can you hear me?”

 

I said nothing and hung up.  Tried the number again and the same thing happened.

 

So I forwarded this suspicious email to my my Carnival personal vacation planner, who got back to me right away. She and said that she had personally just put the payment through after she received my email and that it went through fine and that we are good to go on the February cruise.

 

She said that the code she saw on my reservation was a “security matter”, whatever that means. She had no other information.

 

Hmm, this is odd.  It almost sounds as if the "code" she saw on your reservation for a "security matter" was related to the suspicious phone call.   Really curious as to what code she saw on your reservation.  Maybe it indicated that a data breach at their end had taken place?  

 

 

[mz-s]

Responding to a scam in any way is a bad idea. Never call the number or click on any links. 

[sanmarcosman]

I don't doubt the OP but I'd like to add that, at times, Carnival customers can receive odd looking emails that are legit.

 

Yesterday I received an email from a different Carnival address that had to do with a reward I applied for requesting that the reward be used on an upcoming cruise. The email contained codes and jargon I had never seen before.

 

Another time earlier this year I got a weird looking email from an internal department at Carnival advising me that the cabin I booked for an upcoming cruise was going to be out of service that cruise and I being reassigned, and upgraded, to a balcony on the same deck.

 

The moral of the story is, as others have said, take no action on suspicious emails without first contacting Carnival yourself directly.

[Drazil65]

“funships@carnivalcruiselineemail.com”

 

I put in an order for a specialty restaurant this week for our MG cruise in 3 weeks and this is the exact address that was in the confirmation than came through almost immediately.  I went back and looked at other orders for this trip over the last few months and same address.  This email address is legit from Carnival.   Also explains why they had the last 4 digits of your credit card, you might want to check your CC statement for a pending charge from CCL to see if it did go through or not.  

 

 

Edited November 22, 2022 by Drazil65

[NutsAboutGolf]

It's been validated as legit; took me literally one second to copy the email and paste it into google.  If they had the last four numbers of your credit card odds are they would have your entire credit card number and would not need you to call in.  The number in the email was probably to the billing center.  Yet, if you have a PVP and an email seems suspicious you should call your PVP

[Oceansaway17]

11 hours ago, mz-s said:

Responding to a scam in any way is a bad idea. Never call the number or click on any links. 

I agree 

if it sounds too good it is most likely not.

 

do not fall for the usps emails or fedex that say they have an urgent package.

[mz-s]

I can send you an email that at first glance will look like it comes from President Biden. And only people who actually know what to look for would know it's not legitimate.

 

AGAIN - do not click links or call numbers from emails you suspect to be a fraud. If you get an email that might be from Carnival but might not, don't call that number but instead call your PVP/TA or Carnival's 1-800 number.

[Gin-soaked bar-room queen]

21 hours ago, Miss Picante said:

I thought this sounded weird ( have been a Carnival Fan Girl for several decades now), and not like Carnival does things, but I called the number.  Nobody said “Carnival” when it was answered.

 

Instead, I heard “This is Jessica on a recorded line, can you hear me?”

 

I said nothing and hung up.  Tried the number again and the same thing happened.

 

Always be careful when you’re asked “can you hear me?” or any similar question that elicits a simple “yes” answer. An unscrupulous company can use your recorded “yes” to say that you authorized a charge or requested a service.

[NutsAboutGolf]

11 minutes ago, Gin-soaked bar-room queen said:

Always be careful when you’re asked “can you hear me?” or any similar question that elicits a simple “yes” answer. An unscrupulous company can use your recorded “yes” to say that you authorized a charge or requested a service.

 

While that's possible, they're scammers, not sure how having your actual voice is any different than forging a voice.  Therefore in most cases, when you say yes it simply validates that they have a valid number.

 

Found this on the MN gov't page

 

Edited November 23, 2022 by NutsAboutGolf

[Sailin_Pirate]

At this point this thread is click bait as the email was valid. This thread should be locked.

 

And who calls a number they don't recognize when they have a pvp that answers 'right away".

[notscb]

7 hours ago, NutsAboutGolf said:

took me literally one second to copy the email and paste it into google.

 

If we're talking security here, I'd like to mention that google is only helpful if you find the primary source. While these boards are certainly helpful, the link you took a screenshot of is not from the Carnival website.

[NutsAboutGolf]

6 minutes ago, notscb said:

 

If we're talking security here, I'd like to mention that google is only helpful if you find the primary source. While these boards are certainly helpful, the link you took a screenshot of is not from the Carnival website.

 

For those who are still interested in going down this rabbit hole, they're welcome to do their own research...