Mandy (@mandythecruisepla), a cruise expert, issued a PSA on alleged “scammers” who have a penchant for canceling customers’ cruises. She speculated why this might be the case in a viral TikTok.
Mandy references the case of another Carnival Cruise customer who was hit with this scam and ended up paying a deck fee, but the number she called wasn’t actually Carnival’s line. It appeared the person on the other end of the line wasn’t an actual Carnival employee, but someone pulling a long-form con on enthusiastic cruise seekers.
After this particular customer ended up calling the actual Carnival service line, she was told this was a scam and that she needed to contest the charges with her credit card company, which she did, but this ultimately culminated in her trip getting canceled with the popular cruise liner.
Mandy also referenced the $15,000 Tiffany Banks fiasco, which the New York Post reported on, that also saw a Carnival Cruise customer end up with a canceled trip. The cruise expert went on to say that users who follow her page reached out and asked why it would benefit a scammer to do this.
An elaborate scam
The TikToker said while she doesn’t have any definitive “proof” to support her theory, she began to speculate as to why scammers would do such a thing. She shares an anecdote she heard from a travel agent about a client who booked a venture on Royal Caribbean. This customer, who was very excited about going on their cruise, reportedly ended up oversharing their information in a Facebook group…and one of her posts included her booking number.
Mandy speculates that someone, seeing the booking number, ended up calling Royal Caribbean to try and get their cruise canceled—but because of Royal’s “security” protocols and the fact the customer used a travel agent to book everything, the would-be party pooper had their party-pooping pooped on instead.
The second anecdote: another person reportedly told Mandy they received what looked like a “very convincing email” from Royal Caribbean that ended up being from a con artist instead.
“It was designed to look like it was from the cruise and it was offering them an upgrade,” she says into the camera.
@mandythecruisepla Scammers are targeting cruisers! Be safe out there, guys. #cruise #cruisetok #royalcaribbean #carnivalcruise ♬ original sound – mandythecruiseplanner
Facebook Groups seem to be the key
The similarities between the two instances? Both of these users were particularly active in Facebook groups. According to Mandy, scammers probably scour these groups to see posts of people broadcasting to the world they’re about to go on a cruise, targeting them.
She then made a bit of a digression stating that there are other known scams online, like people who hop into comments sections of posts and offer up $50 t-shirts that their “autistic child” made—Mandy warned folks against purchasing these because the people are just selling you clothes that cost a fraction of the price they’re selling them to you for.
Mandy went on to state that this problem isn’t particular to Carnival, but other liners have been on the receiving end of these scams as well.
“It’s not just Carnival that’s being targeted, they’re trying this with Royal,” she elaborates, “and they’re also trying this with Celebrity as well.”
As for the scammers, she thinks they may have been “testing” the waters with Tiffany’s case and “executing the plan” with Britney’s.
Mandy capped off her video by stating that folks should exercise caution with the information that they share online. As always, if you receive any type of email from a company or business that claims there’s an issue that needs to be resolved with your account, it’s best to never interact directly with any links in the emails that are sent your way.
Viewers weigh in
Some viewers expressed they felt little sympathy for victims of these scammers due to their oversharing online: “If you’re dumb enough to share your booking # or itinerary details on social media, you deserve the fallout. Same goes for anyone who tells the world at large when they’re going on vacation,” one person wrote.
But others were unsure as to how scammers benefit monetarily from doing this: “So with these scammers canceling people’s vacations, are the scammers getting the returned $$,” one person asked.
Another questioned, “But what would the scammers get out of this? They aren’t getting money canceling peoples cruises… it’s just so weird.”
The Daily Dot has reached out to Carnival, Royal Caribbean, and Celebrity via email and Mandy via TikTok comment.
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