The scammers are at it again – and they seem to keep getting smarter and more convincing. But thankfully, one Carnival cruise guest realized that she was on the verge of falling for a scam in the nick of time and is now warning others.

Her lesson was that when you call the cruise line, you need to be sure that you really are calling the right number.

After running into a minor glitch during the online check-in process, the unidentified woman called Carnival for assistance – or so she thought.

She had googled the phone number for the Miami-based cruise brand, but didn’t go all the way to the website. The search results associated the fraudulent phone number with the legit website, which is why she thought it was safe to call.

“The number I called was attached to the official carnival website, but it was not a carnival number… It is attached to the official website, but it’s not actually ON the website,” she explained on Reddit.

Relatedly, another similar scam has been circulating throughout the first half of this year in which scammers send fake emails pretending to be Carnival and post ads with fraudulent phone numbers.

The shady advertisements are meant to draw in victims with unbelievable promotions. When interested cruisers call to book, the con artists pretend they work for the cruise line and steal credit card numbers and other personal information.

And ultimately, a promotion that sounded too good to be true is what made this future cruise guest realize that the person on the other end of the line might not have good intentions.

“While I was explaining the issue on the phone, the agent said there is a promotion going on and if he cancels my reservation and rebooks the exact same cruise for me he can get me about $1000 cheaper,” she wrote.

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“My cruise is in 5 days…I kept asking him what the catch is and it was kind of hard to understand it with our language barrier but he said something about bulk purchasing of rooms,” she continued.

With a bad feeling in her gut, she hung up and had her husband call the real Carnival phone number from the website – where actual employees confirmed that the alleged promotion was a scam.

Staying Safe From Scammers

Luckily, this cruiser had a good head on her shoulders – and knew that if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. 

If this ever happens to you, it’s always okay to hang up and call the cruise line back at a legitimate number – as she did. You’ll either save yourself a lot of heartache, or the promotion will still be available and the customer service agents will understand.

Unfortunately, the woman did reveal her name and booking number to the crook before she realized what was really going on – but Carnival has been working to help protect her booking since she notified them quickly.

Sharing this information with a malicious recipient does put the cruiser’s vacation at risk, as they could use it to make unwanted changes or even cancel her voyage altogether.

“He has my booking number unfortunately. The real carnival customer service has been helpful. They are trying to lock down my account so the scammer can’t change anything about my booking. I feel so dumb,” the guest added.

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But while this cruiser will likely make it onboard her cruise without suffering any major problems – aside from perhaps a deflated ego – not everyone is so lucky.

Not only do cruisers need to stay vigilant to look out for fake advertisements and phone numbers, but some scammers will directly contact specific guests pretending to be from the cruise line.

At the end of April, the famous Kyndall “Fire” Magyar – who can be found onboard Carnival Jubilee – advised that someone was sending out scam messages in which they impersonated the Carnival cruise director in order to get money.

Meanwhile, an employee from a competing cruise brand, Norwegian Cruise Line, recently warned of scammers calling guests who had opted for “fly & cruise” packages – in which the criminal pretends to book the airfare and steals credit card information in the process.

The guest that the NCL customer representative had spoken to had lost nearly $20,000 through the ruse – which again speaks to the importance of staying aware and safeguarding your personal information.