Where to report compromised Credit Cards / Debit Cards wire fraud by (suspected) cabin steward

[Robin Hooning]

I will not reveal which cruise line for now but this is what happened.

 

I bring two wallets when I travel. One small wallet - I always carry it with me 100% of times. It has my major CCs.

The 2nd wallet has my backup CCs and bank debit card. This stays home 100% of times and only leaves home when I travel.

 

Went on a 5 day cruise and just came back.

 

Day 1: I left the "backup wallet" next to the cabin phone desk. Backup wallet had my bank debit card and Southwest Chase CC.

Day 2: My husband thought it should be out of sight so he put it on the drawer.

Day 3: Before we go on an excursion, I put it in the safe

Day 4: I received "suspicious transactions" email from my bank, CitiBank with my debit card. Someone tried to send money using REMITLY from my debit card. Amount was little more than $1000.

I DO NOT have REMITLY account. Never installed the APP.
Received another suspicious transaction email from Southwest Chase CC with same REMITLY attempt amount little less than $1000.
I logged into my online accounts then marked them as "NOT ME".
Reported this incident to the Chief Security Officer with written statement. He confirmed only cabin steward and a plumber were in our cabin. He would question them but he thought they would of course deny.

Decided NOT TO file police report thinking those two charges were blocked.
Day 5: Arrived home. Called the Citibank and it turned out there were numerous attempts and one transaction over $1k went thru. The bank filed disputed but asked me to file "police report".

The crime happened in California Coast, on the cruise ship. Where should I file this crime?

 

 

 

Edited November 28, 2022 by Robin Hooning

[sparks1093]

I believe that the FBI has jurisdiction over crimes committed at sea but I would call my local PD as a start and see what they say. Since this is mostly to satisfy Citibank it might be sufficient. I would also send a letter to the cruise line advising them of the chain of events (not expecting anything, just letting them know so they can decide what to do). I suspect that if there are enough complaints involving the same crew member it could be cause for terminating the contract or not renewing it.

[chengkp75]

While I do not claim to be an admiralty lawyer, nor do I fully understand the complexities of admiralty law, I'll offer my opinion.  While the US has claimed "extra-territorial" jurisdiction over crimes committed against US citizens on foreign ships on the high seas, I believe these are limited to major crimes like murder, assault, sexual assault.  I'm not sure if theft is included.  If the US has jurisdiction, then it would be an FBI investigation.  If the US does not claim jurisdiction for this offence, then it falls to the flag state of the vessel, which I cannot determine since you don't name the ship or line.  In that case, the Captain is the legal representative of that nation, onboard, and his delegate, the Security Officer is the law enforcement officer onboard.  Therefore, you would need a report from him.

[Flatbush Flyer]

3 hours ago, Robin Hooning said:

I will not reveal which cruise line for now but this is what happened.

 

I bring two wallets when I travel. One small wallet - I always carry it with me 100% of times. It has my major CCs.

The 2nd wallet has my backup CCs and bank debit card. This stays home 100% of times and only leaves home when I travel.

 

Went on a 5 day cruise and just came back.

 

Day 1: I left the "backup wallet" next to the cabin phone desk. Backup wallet had my bank debit card and Southwest Chase CC.

Day 2: My husband thought it should be out of sight so he put it on the drawer.

Day 3: Before we go on an excursion, I put it in the safe

Day 4: I received "suspicious transactions" email from my bank, CitiBank with my debit card. Someone tried to send money using REMITLY from my debit card. Amount was little more than $1000.

I DO NOT have REMITLY account. Never installed the APP.
Received another suspicious transaction email from Southwest Chase CC with same REMITLY attempt amount little less than $1000.
I logged into my online accounts then marked them as "NOT ME".
Reported this incident to the Chief Security Officer with written statement. He confirmed only cabin steward and a plumber were in our cabin. He would question them but he thought they would of course deny.

Decided NOT TO file police report thinking those two charges were blocked.
Day 5: Arrived home. Called the Citibank and it turned out there were numerous attempts and one transaction over $1k went thru. The bank filed disputed but asked me to file "police report".

The crime happened in California Coast, on the cruise ship. Where should I file this crime?

 

 

 

 

1 hour ago, chengkp75 said:

While I do not claim to be an admiralty lawyer, nor do I fully understand the complexities of admiralty law, I'll offer my opinion.  While the US has claimed "extra-territorial" jurisdiction over crimes committed against US citizens on foreign ships on the high seas, I believe these are limited to major crimes like murder, assault, sexual assault.  I'm not sure if theft is included.  If the US has jurisdiction, then it would be an FBI investigation.  If the US does not claim jurisdiction for this offence, then it falls to the flag state of the vessel, which I cannot determine since you don't name the ship or line.  In that case, the Captain is the legal representative of that nation, onboard, and his delegate, the Security Officer is the law enforcement officer onboard.  Therefore, you would need a report from him.

Agree with the Chief. Hopefully, OP got a copy of the acknowledged complaint to the ship’s security officer. That should satisfy the CC issuer.

On a somewhat related item: sure sounds like too many CCs in play.

[ontheweb]

4 hours ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

 

Agree with the Chief. Hopefully, OP got a copy of the acknowledged complaint to the ship’s security officer. That should satisfy the CC issuer.

On a somewhat related item: sure sounds like too many CCs in play.

And it also sounds like the safe not in play. Put the stuff in the safe, that is what it is there for!

[shipgeeks]

While plumber was in the cabin, presumably working in the bathroom, a passenger could have stepped in undetected, as well.  Same with cabin steward.

[LHT28]

we never leave anything valuable out in plain sight ..it is in the safe 🤔

but that is just us

[KP@Sea]

1 hour ago, shipgeeks said:

While plumber was in the cabin, presumably working in the bathroom, a passenger could have stepped in undetected, as well.  Same with cabin steward.

I was thinking the same. Also, when rooms are being serviced the doors are propped open. Any passenger could have walked in at that time

[Robin Hooning]

On 11/28/2022 at 9:05 AM, ontheweb said:

And it also sounds like the safe not in play. Put the stuff in the safe, that is what it is there for!

The backup wallet had no money, just back up credit cards and debit card so I didn't thought of it as valuable item at that time.

I of course blamed myself for leaving it out there - however, it feels like it's similar argument that sexual assault is caused by how women dresses themselves. Not locking the house door or car door does not justify the robbery. 

[Robin Hooning]

On 11/28/2022 at 11:43 AM, Winky7650 said:

I was thinking the same. Also, when rooms are being serviced the doors are propped open. Any passenger could have walked in at that time

The Chief of Security checked their "medallion" tracking and confirmed only cabin steward and plumber was inside other than us. But then again, there's a chance the passenger was not wearing the medallion. 

[Robin Hooning]

On 11/28/2022 at 4:21 AM, Flatbush Flyer said:

 

Agree with the Chief. Hopefully, OP got a copy of the acknowledged complaint to the ship’s security officer. That should satisfy the CC issuer.

On a somewhat related item: sure sounds like too many CCs in play.

Yes, got the copy of statement from the Chief security officer. The lower level officers tried to make me go away tho. They were keep asking, "What do you want us to do?"

[Mary229]

Call your bank and don’t play Sherlock Holmes.  According to the FBI the vast majority of credit card fraud is done by family members.  If it is a card not present occurrence your card was not needed.  As to where to file a report any police station will do but they will tell you the same thing, you are not the victim.  Quit using a debit card, they do not have the same legal protections as a credit card and safeguard the card.

 

I also recommend you might want to skip the part that you left your card unprotected as that might nullify your claim.

 

In the law you are not considered the victim of the fraud, the bank is as they are the ones who will be out the money.  If you delay reporting it then the law allows them to stick you with the charges 

Edited December 2, 2022 by Mary229

[evandbob]

There's the possibility that the fraud occurred while the OP was using email or an unsecured account while on board the ship that has nothing to do with the physical card.

 

This is generally the way most credit card fraud occurs.  Naturally the OP has posted his story with the  facts that support his slanted conclusion.

[Philob]

1 hour ago, evandbob said:

There's the possibility that the fraud occurred while the OP was using email or an unsecured account while on board the ship that has nothing to do with the physical card.

 

This is generally the way most credit card fraud occurs.  Naturally the OP has posted his story with the  facts that support his slanted conclusion.

OR the information was obtained before the cruise by card skimming or data breach. Made its way through the "dark web" and now used.

[GeezerCouple]

Is it possible that OP is using his/her real name (and city) as their User ID?

 

If so, not only does that make it easy for anyone to learn more about them, but it suggests that they are not being very cautious about keeping personal information private and secure more generally.

If that's the case, who knows where the information has been "shared"...

 

So that credit card number may already have been "in play" out in the world, unfortunately.  Or, of course, it might have been stolen on the ship.

However, if every crewmember is really logged everytime they enter a cabin/suite, then... I find that a rather risky way to steal credit information.  A crew member wouldn't get too many chances to do that without a pattern appearing.  But still, it could certainly happen...

 

I'm posting this in part as a general reminder to everyone that there are so many ways that the dishonest can "get" this type of information, as well as a double check for OP.  So be prudent in where/whether you leave documents lying around, and also be prudent about how you protect your online (or mail/paper) information.

 

Also, so much of that information is already "out there" on the dark web, etc., that the best thing is to keep credit reports locked (so no new cards can be opened in *your* name), and keep passwords secure so that others can't use the accounts that exist.

It's tricky these days, but there are steps one can take to make this risk less likely.

And if possible have the credit card vendor text you if the card is used (or used for more than $10 or such), so you can catch it quickly and try to stop further use.

Yes, it's annoying, but less annoying that having major losses! 😡

GC

[Mary229]

2 hours ago, evandbob said:

There's the possibility that the fraud occurred while the OP was using email or an unsecured account while on board the ship that has nothing to do with the physical card.

 

This is generally the way most credit card fraud occurs.  Naturally the OP has posted his story with the  facts that support his slanted conclusion.

It is possible the whole theft of information happened before she stepped foot on the ship and may have been a relative at home.

[ontheweb]

8 hours ago, Robin Hooning said:

The backup wallet had no money, just back up credit cards and debit card so I didn't thought of it as valuable item at that time.

I of course blamed myself for leaving it out there - however, it feels like it's similar argument that sexual assault is caused by how women dresses themselves. Not locking the house door or car door does not justify the robbery. 

They were not valuable enough to put in the safe, but now that they disappeared, they are valuable.

 

I agree that there is no justification for robbery, but comparing this to sexual assault because another person decides a woman is in their opinion dressed provocatively is an overreach.

[sparks1093]

42 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

They were not valuable enough to put in the safe, but now that they disappeared, they are valuable.

 

I agree that there is no justification for robbery, but comparing this to sexual assault because another person decides a woman is in their opinion dressed provocatively is an overreach.

I think the point was victim shaming is still victim shaming regardless of the crime. As for everyone else's comments regarding when and where this could have happened, while that is true the fact remains that the attempted fraud did occur and the OP needs a police report for the credit card company, so at the end of the day it could have been the Professor in the Library with a Candlestick and it doesn't matter.

[ontheweb]

18 minutes ago, sparks1093 said:

I think the point was victim shaming is still victim shaming regardless of the crime. As for everyone else's comments regarding when and where this could have happened, while that is true the fact remains that the attempted fraud did occur and the OP needs a police report for the credit card company, so at the end of the day it could have been the Professor in the Library with a Candlestick and it doesn't matter.

Is blaming the steward and/or the plumber necessary for the police report? The cabin steward is specifically named by the OP in the thread title.

 

I'll bet if you did a poll, you would find near unanimous responses that each and every cabin steward cruisers have encountered have been wonderful.

[sparks1093]

23 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

Is blaming the steward and/or the plumber necessary for the police report? The cabin steward is specifically named by the OP in the thread title.

 

I'll bet if you did a poll, you would find near unanimous responses that each and every cabin steward cruisers have encountered have been wonderful.

I would agree, but that doesn't matter because there are always bad apples in every profession. I think that police reports routinely contain lists of potential suspects if they are identifiable.

[GeezerCouple]

3 minutes ago, sparks1093 said:

I would agree, but that doesn't matter because there are always bad apples in every profession. I think that police reports routinely contain lists of potential suspects if they are identifiable.

 

And in some cases, I would expect such a list to lead to a list of those who become "excluded" from suspicion, for a variety of reasons.  Then any efforts can focus on those more likely to have committed the act in question.  And that also allows some names to be cleared, rather than just not included in the list to begin with, but perhaps still suspected.

 

GC

[Mary229]

10 minutes ago, sparks1093 said:

I would agree, but that doesn't matter because there are always bad apples in every profession. I think that police reports routinely contain lists of potential suspects if they are identifiable.

The issue comes into play because the OP excludes her local police force. If statistics mean anything the home town location is where the fraud originated.  The OP doesn’t need to go filing reports with port authorities, harbor police, maritime authorities, the report should be made at home.  

 

if you think it is the cruise personnel my first question would be where was that wire transfer was heading.  That might be their first indication that it wasn’t a crew member 

[sparks1093]

9 minutes ago, Mary229 said:

The issue comes into play because the OP excludes her local police force. If statistics mean anything the home town location is where the fraud originated.  The OP doesn’t need to go filing reports with port authorities, harbor police, maritime authorities, the report should be made at home.  

 

if you think it is the cruise personnel my first question would be where was that wire transfer was heading.  That might be their first indication that it wasn’t a crew member 

She did file a report onboard and that report will likely be accepted by the credit card company. I doubt that this will go any further than that.

[Mary229]

3 minutes ago, sparks1093 said:

She did file a report onboard and that report will likely be accepted by the credit card company. I doubt that this will go any further than that.

Obviously not, her last sentence says the credit card company wants a “police report” . Actually the whole point of her post is “where” they should file said report 

Edited December 2, 2022 by Mary229

[sparks1093]

44 minutes ago, Mary229 said:

Obviously not, her last sentence says the credit card company wants a “police report” . Actually the whole point of her post is “where” they should file said report 

Since the crime didn't occur in their jurisdiction it's doubtful whether or not the local PD would even accept the complaint.