I am 73 years old . at the age of 72 I was diagnosed with a very aggressive form of breast cancer..I had multiple procedures and surgeries.. my port a Cath became infected and caused sepsis.. in the end I required a bilateral mastectomy to save my life.. it really upsets me when someone lies about it.. cancer stinks ..Chemo stinks
I, too, am a cancer survivor. I found the American Cancer Society to be a sham, just like the International Red Cross, which only cares about money and not helping people. I will keep my money instead of giving it to charity as I am still paying off my bill for surgery.and I will be paying it off for a while,
Moderators should delete all posts that try to sell something. When I moderated a group, it was a rule: no soliciting. So when a post popped up, I deleted it. Also, if I see a post that is soliciting, I report it to the moderators. Nobody needs to sell anything on a FB group. Thanks for the alert!
I am part of the cruising ducks page. Several times I have seen posts about someone having 100 ducks but can no longer go on their cruise and are selling them for $15. I msg one and said I was interested. She then said to send $ via an app I wasn’t familiar with, not PayPal. She asked where to ship and I told her my city and it would be an extra $10 to ship. I asked where she was located and it was a small town not far from me. I said I could pick up and pay cash. That’s when the run around started. Wanted $ up front. Excuses why couldn’t meet in person. I thankfully clued in and let the ducks float away. Since then, I see these posts all the time and warn others
Shot glasses, ducks, t shirts.... all scams. I see them in all the FB cruise groups. When I am an ADMIN of a group (which I often am as I book far in advance and there are no groups created yet), I require post approval for the first few posts. It takes more work on my part, but its worth it to keep people safe.
As an admin on a public group with 41K members it is imperitive that people report stuff that needs to be taken down. There are only 2 of us and we could never keep up with our loyal "family" members letting us know about things they see. We have gotten everything from R rated pictures to people selling stuff or bulling other people. It is sad that adults can't act like an adult.
JJ Cruise. This was a very timely and informative post. I was a very naive cruiser and was recently scammed out of $70 dollars buying some tumblers that were advertised on my cruise face book page. It was a lesson for me and one I won’t make again. At 72 years old I used to be a trusting person but sadly these days I no longer am.
I have personally only seen this from people I know, and they always said you could pay them cash in person. I would never send money online to someone I didn't know. Good of you to share this with everyone, since everyone is not so savvy!
OMG, I had SO much fun with a scammer for my current cruise. (And it was sweet that someone in the FB cruise group tried to warn me!) I figure any time I divert them and have them answering my questions, they're not bothering anyone else. 🤷♀️
I see this every single day because I belong to the FB groups for all my cruises - I have 8 coming up right now. The most common one is, "Can't make it - selling ducks. PM me." Next is, "I'm going to have to fly in - selling tumblers." And the next one is selling t-shirts. One scam has someone saying their kid is autistic and the shirts are to raise money for them. In most cases they turn off commenting so nobody can say "this is a scam - do not DM them." It is SO annoying and frustrating. I report them every time and the good admins remove them right away. Unfortunately, they even get in past the filters you have to answer to get into some groups. Every time I see it my heart sinks, especially when I see how many people saw it and liked it, having no idea how many people actually DM'd them.
Omg my grandson has cancer autism cerebal palsy etc and this hurts my soul. We would never ever try to gain money from this. We cruise on our own dime with him to give him the best life we can .how sad
I recently set up a sail group for a cruise we’re in next year, and I added very specific rules that nobody is to try and sell anything. Zero tolerance, I’ll be removing anyone who gets through (and I set some trip specific questions to get in in the first place). Some groups are riddled with fake tshirt tales because the admins got bored and walked away. Funny how travel agents see my rules and then decide not to sign up afterall ha.
I’m always reporting the T-Shirt scam to the admins. Last time I did, just before the post and “ person” was deleted from the group - the scammer actually threatened me. Told me they would sue me if I continued to say bad things. What a joke. Glad I got a rise out of them!!
Oh man, I did buy a couple of t-shirts through a Facebook group and never once thought of being scammed. I’m proud to say it wasn’t a scam and the group I joined was great. We did magnet and recipe exchange too. We had a meet up and took pictures. It was a lot of fun to see them around the ship and say hi. Too bad some people just like to ruin things for others.
First of all, nobody's allowed to bring commercial merchandise or make sales on board. Even if someone's legit, they may have their stuff confiscated and or get kicked off the ship.
I've been in 2 groups for Carnival that had a lady selling cruise ducks that turned out to be a scam. She got the first person, but the second group "caught her and outed her.
There are a lot of posts for selling ducks. Usually someone says they had to cancel their cruise and want to sell the ducks they purchased. Most of the time it will be several different people using the same pic. So it is easy to spot. The Facebook group of my last cruise asked everyone to report if they noticed them. Eventually they stopped.
I’ve seen the T-shirt scam many times on Celebrity Facebook cruise groups. The admins usually catch them but I do report them right away. Also beware of the scam that sells you a memory of your cruise when it’s over. I’ve seen slick videos and other stuff.
Wise words Jordan. You have to be very alert sadly enough 😢. I never give money / pay until i see the product in question in my hand .Had quite a few Friends that have been scammed , buying items on Fb or holiday resorts .
It's not just cruising. Trolls attach Facebook groups from "community yard sales" to "school chocolate sales". I use to sell items in a community group until the harassment was too much. Facelessness turns people into fools. BEWARE
Be aware that some lines prohibit selling cruise related merch while on board. You are welcome to make things and give them away, but not to sell them. It becomes a fine line--how will they know if I brought a first aid item that someone on my cruise asked me to pick up for them while in port, but that is different than selling t-shirts.Botton line is to not send money in advance to ANYONE you don't know.
I need to preface that I don't usually join FB groups, so that is why I wasn't aware of this scam before. I will definitely be vigilant. Thank you for sharing
Makes it bad for the people who actually do have a business etc. But at the same time, sellers, have a reputable site, i.e etsy, own website, etc and complete the transaction that way. As a small business owner, it is hard also to "take a persons word" especially if creating custom items that they will hold their end of the bargain and pay C.O.D.
I wish the admin of my October 22 cruise had blocked all sales posts. I was scammed out of $70 by a post on our cruise page. You did your group a favor.
I see this in so many of my cruise Facebook groups it’s now Stanley Cups they have to sell. The admins have not been handling this very well at least in some of these sailings
I literally just saw someone on the fb group for my upcoming cruise advertising the refillable cups like Royal gives for their soda package. I thought, who would do this and travel with a huge bag of cups lol. Thanks for sharing!!
I saw last week where somebody posted that they were looking for someone going to the ABC Islands to pick up shot glasses for them from each port and the person would pay them for the glasses and shipping or meet them in Ft. Lauderdale, as they lived there, to pick up the shot glasses. Super sketchy.
I know that Carnival and MSC both have specific regulations that prohibit, "Merchandise for Sale". So they could be removed from the ship by contacting Guest Services.
I hate these scammers. I wish the group admins would ask more questions before allowing people into a group, especially if it's a private group. Some admins make groups public and allow anyone to join. I avoid those groups. We had a group for a cruise last year where we begged the admin to lock it down and use post approval but she refused, so a bunch of us left and started our own group.
Someone always wants to separate you from your money, I ignore all the adds on Facebook. I have known others to order stuff an it never arrived. Thanks for the warning.
It’s so sad. On my first transatlantic a lovely lady showed her quilted door hanger than she adds to each cruise. I commented that my late mum would have totally been all over making the same sort of thing. She asked me my mums name and fav colour and actually made me one!!!! She put it on our door on embarkation which was so sweet. I hate that people have taken advantage of the good nature of others. On the same cruise an awesome single traveler made wrist bands to commemorate the trip and put up posts about where to find him to give the bracelets to people- he must of met the whole sailing!!!
Just a side note; If you order something and say you will pay in cash, please pi k it up and pay. Our last cruise, one of the admins had beads she was selling. She took many orders, but got stuck with about a third of them that never got picked up or paid for.
Good information. I never thought about that being a scam but it makes sense that people would try and use groups like this for scamming people. So sad! I have bought shirts before way before Covid from facebook cruise groups that I belonged too. It was fun to all wear our shirts at meet ups, etc. I haven't done it since Covid but will definitely be more aware. Thank you!
It’s generally a group admin, though, doing cruise group shirts. Like the one I was in that had them, we voted on which design and there was a lot of commenting, etc. These posts are just random people and sometimes the group will have just been started yet the person into g they have received soooo many orders already. Ummm the group just started so how would you have tons of orders? I just report them to the group admins.
There is a difference - the scammers all have the same post. If it’s a real person, it’s usually an admin. Plus, there will be lots of interaction, etc. The scam posts have been pretty easy to spot. I report all of them.
This is a tough one as I have purchased tshirts and mugs in the Facebook group we’re in and received all items as advertised without any problems. The scams are unfortunate and really take away from the experience. I’m now hesitant to make future purchases from other groups as we were probably lucky this time around. Thanks again for this information. It’s hard to tell the difference from honest sellers and scammers. Buyer beware.
Oh, I really hate these Facebook group scams. The t-shirt scams seem to be going through so many of these groups! Good for you for raising awareness of this - the more people that know about it, the smaller the chance is that these people will continue to get away with what they're doing...!
Absolutely! It’s so sad people are getting scammed just in excitement of planning for their cruise. Hopefully this will save at least a few more people from getting scammed 🙏🏼😅
I admin cruise groups, no selling is allowed ever. Also, I check all Facebook profiles before allowing people to join. Most of these scammers have fake FB profiles and often they are locked.
Just this week, the admin for one of our upcoming cruises had to kick a member out of the group because they were trying to sell something. It may have been legit, but the admin was very quick to point out that it was against group rules. I enjoyed your video, so I'm a new subscriber now!
This is so annoying, we have a small tour company based in Malaga, Spain. We love taking cruise customers on personal tours of our amazing city. Totally legit and a great value tour. Its impossible to get into the cruise market made even more difficult by everyone thinking everything is a scam.
I ran across what you spoke about on a FB group I joined for my cruise. The "cripple kid" scammer posted an appeal to purchase bracelets with the ship name and date of cruise, constructed by the cripple kid using only his teeth or something to that effect. I offered to pay for the kid and his mother, in full, but needed their personal information to do so. Crickets...and the post was gone within the hour. Thank you for the topic.
The one I see most often that involves a kid is the one that says something like "My son with autism designed this shirt and wants to see if you like it. He's watching to see your response. You can buy it at this link".
We love being on Facebook pages for upcoming cruises to find out about meetups, slot pulls, and such. Scammers are everywhere. I usually stick to my own personal rule which is if it sounds too good to be true, then it probably isn’t. It prevents me from being scammed. On a side note, I always thought when on an island where there’s a lot of haggling happening, I wanted to wear a shirt that said “No Thank You” on the front and “Don’t bother asking” on the back to see if that would prevent haggling…I wonder if that would work?
Thanks much for this. I've seen several posts like that in the group pages of my upcoming sailings. DUCKS are a big thing for sale. If allowed on those pages I will be sharing this video. 😄
On our recent Carnival cruise, the admin was selling “coins” for our cruise at $30. We didn’t call her out because she was distributing them on the ship. They were pretty, but… I purchase challenge coins that are the same thing (traded by law enforcement) and the most they cost is $8-10 depending on quantity. She didn’t sell all of what she bought,and I figure people can decide what they value as cruise memorabilia.
since Covid, the 1970’s+ age range of social media users has been more on the uptake and people are taking advantage of that. Thank you for this content! I shared with my mom and grandma lol. Safe surfing 🏄♂️
First of all, thank you for letting me know about the groups on FB for an upcoming cruise. I joined one for a cruise I’m doing in May. Looking forward to see what everyone says. But believe me, I won’t be buying anything from anyone on the page. As always, great video and information from you. ❤
As a crafter that sells items from time to time. It’s not fair to ask us to cover the cost of everything until you get on the ship and then forget you ordered or change your mind. Better idea would be to use a goods and services thru PayPal or other app so that you are covered. I buy things on FB all the time with no issues. It’s a shame scammers are making it so difficult for reputable people.
Every single FB group I have joined for my cruises I have seen the scams of "selling" merch for that cruise. I always report to the group Admins (or ban myself when I'm the Admin). And, for those that I'm not the Admin, I reply with "SCAM" so others know. They just SUCK! BTW, it is illegal to use the NCL logo on any merch without their expressed consent.
People CAN buy those things in the ship's gift shops and even on shore if you go to one of the private cruise islands. They have lots of stuff with the ship logo.
I'm an admin of a cruise fb group. The other scam is the xbox they are giving away because their child dird. They ask for shipping money. Had one of those last week.
I saw that shot glass FB ad and sure enough, it's a scam. They wanted payment prior and I said no....I would only pay onboard. That ended the conversation.
Thanks for the warning. Like you mentioned, my golden rule is NEVER send someone cash, use a cash equivalent transfer service or bank transfer to pay someone. I ONLY pay via credit card or PayPal, where I can claim the money back when there is fraud involved. I still use common sense, but it means I don't have to investigate each thing I might want to buy online, because I know I'm protected anyway. Plus, when you only buy via sites/people that accept credit card/paypal, you already cut out about 90% of fraudsters, because they prefer to be paid in ways that's not traceable.
If you're going to sell something like that you should get a headcount of who is interested and then bring it on board to sell for cash in hand. There are crafters I would love to support since I never have time to make anything like that for myself.
one to watch for in Miami the yellow cabs will say once they get you to the airport that their card reader is not working and that it has to be cash only, once you challenge they will "try to fix it" and like magic its working and the price will make you throw up, $57 for port miami to mia
We always appreciate your offer Dana! One of these days we will take you up on it! After this one we’re driving up to Port Canaveral for our next Crusie. :)
I am one of those people who actually plans a tee or bracelet or something, but ask that I receive cash first night of cruise. It doesn't really work well because there's always Mr Need-A-Discount and the group of 12 that never shows to pickup their package.
Yep, never pay in advance. The seller understands they - as the seller - have to take the chance that someone won't show. Likely they'll be able to sell it anyway while onboard.
I just started using FB groups for my cruises and haven't seen this (although I would never send strangers money for any reason). I agree, it's best to conduct any financial transactions on the ship once you know there are actual products the person is selling. What I have seen on FB groups and Cruise Critic roll calls are cruisers trying to get other cruisers to join in on a private excursion. Those may be legit but I'm just leery about going into any transaction or agreement with strangers online period no matter how sincere they seem or how good the small group tour seems.
We had someone in our upcoming July cruise facebook group say that they had all these ducks to hide but ended up not being able to cruise. They were asking for people to hide them I’m not sure what she asked the people to do once they responded but I alerted our admin and she was booted out of the group.
I keep seeing cheap cruises for seniors. Unsold cabins for cheap. Meanwhile I’m hearing about oversold ships. I don’t know if any of the cruise sites are real?
I saw that shot glass post in my cruise group for Icon of the Seas , April 20th. Someone called her out and she was blocked. I was like, who needs a shot glass anyway, especially when they’ve purchased the drink package???
Hey J. A Facebook group scam? Wow. I was on Oasis last August and joined the group sailing. There were posts about teeshirts, bar crawls, slot pulls etc; but I don’t know these random ppl. Now if on a group cruise such as MAS with Rich and Jasmine or you guys or Don that’s different. It’s unfortunate the amount of scamming and theft in general in this world 🤷🏻♀️🤦♀️. Thanks for sharing.
How is it possible the cruise operators allow passengers to bring merchandise on the ship to sell to other cruisers? Even though that may have happened in the past, it seems most likely the cruise line doesn’t know it’s happening. Would be a copyright infringement if any official logos were used.
I never buy anything online except for Amazon and Walmart. Dating apps are terrible for scammers asking for money. Makes sense that there are plenty of scammers on Facebook. I used cruise critic roll call to meet people on my last 2 cruises. I think it's safer.
I’ve been an admin of a few fb groups. I have my own method for weeding out scammers. It’s not foolproof but it helps a lot. The downside is it takes about 15 minutes a day of active work in managing the group. Looking through member profiles, etc. I remove any members that solicit payments or advertise in any way.
I’ve seen these post in my upcoming cruise group and the exact same post in an old cruise group that I’m still in I normally grab a couple shot glasses from around the US and give them out when people come have a drink with me and my crew, I see people are even kinda worried about my post even tho I’m giving the away for free
If someone was legitimately selling items, I would ask them if I can give them cash onboard when I see them. If they say no, there is a good chance its a scam. As I just typed this, he said it! There also seems to be a cruising duck scam on these roll call groups. People post pictures of their ducks (usually the same photo) and say they had to cancel their cruise and looking to sell their ducks.
I always bring stuff on ship to sell. But i always get the money when i get there. I make a lot of custom shot glasses and a lot of other stuff. I also post videos of it being made and have a legit business that can be found online as well have a physical location.
On our Sky Princess FB group we kept getting ads and fake testimonials for a excursion company promoting their tours. The problem was this company WAS the admin for the group as they had started the group. So who would I complain to?
As a legitimate cancer survivor (8 years!) it infuriates me when people use cancer to scam money from people. It's just an evil thing to do.
We absolutely agree. It’s so evil.
I am 73 years old . at the age of 72 I was diagnosed with a very aggressive form of breast cancer..I had multiple procedures and surgeries.. my port a Cath became infected and caused sepsis.. in the end I required a bilateral mastectomy to save my life.. it really upsets me when someone lies about it.. cancer stinks ..Chemo stinks
I, too, am a cancer survivor. I found the American Cancer Society to be a sham, just like the International Red Cross, which only cares about money and not helping people. I will keep my money instead of giving it to charity as I am still paying off my bill for surgery.and I will be paying it off for a while,
OR Just do not buy things from people in social media. 9 times out of 10 it is a scam. Save your money do not fall for lies.
Moderators should delete all posts that try to sell something. When I moderated a group, it was a rule: no soliciting. So when a post popped up, I deleted it. Also, if I see a post that is soliciting, I report it to the moderators. Nobody needs to sell anything on a FB group. Thanks for the alert!
I am part of the cruising ducks page. Several times I have seen posts about someone having 100 ducks but can no longer go on their cruise and are selling them for $15. I msg one and said I was interested. She then said to send $ via an app I wasn’t familiar with, not PayPal. She asked where to ship and I told her my city and it would be an extra $10 to ship. I asked where she was located and it was a small town not far from me. I said I could pick up and pay cash. That’s when the run around started. Wanted $ up front. Excuses why couldn’t meet in person. I thankfully clued in and let the ducks float away. Since then, I see these posts all the time and warn others
OMG! I saw tons of those too 😬
Shot glasses, ducks, t shirts.... all scams. I see them in all the FB cruise groups. When I am an ADMIN of a group (which I often am as I book far in advance and there are no groups created yet), I require post approval for the first few posts. It takes more work on my part, but its worth it to keep people safe.
As an admin on a public group with 41K members it is imperitive that people report stuff that needs to be taken down. There are only 2 of us and we could never keep up with our loyal "family" members letting us know about things they see. We have gotten everything from R rated pictures to people selling stuff or bulling other people. It is sad that adults can't act like an adult.
The work of an admin is such hard work. Thank you for everything you do and you are correct- it takes a village!
JJ Cruise. This was a very timely and informative post. I was a very naive cruiser and was recently scammed out of $70 dollars buying some tumblers that were advertised on my cruise face book page. It was a lesson for me and one I won’t make again. At 72 years old I used to be a trusting person but sadly these days I no longer am.
Why would you buy tumblers you didnt need? Im sure you have enough things to use.
I hate clutter and wasting money.
I barely use social media.
I have personally only seen this from people I know, and they always said you could pay them cash in person. I would never send money online to someone I didn't know. Good of you to share this with everyone, since everyone is not so savvy!
Cash is the way to go! There are so many scams involving people sending money online that you just can’t trust that in any form in 2024!
I avoid Factbook. End.
OMG, I had SO much fun with a scammer for my current cruise. (And it was sweet that someone in the FB cruise group tried to warn me!) I figure any time I divert them and have them answering my questions, they're not bothering anyone else. 🤷♀️
I see this every single day because I belong to the FB groups for all my cruises - I have 8 coming up right now. The most common one is, "Can't make it - selling ducks. PM me." Next is, "I'm going to have to fly in - selling tumblers." And the next one is selling t-shirts. One scam has someone saying their kid is autistic and the shirts are to raise money for them. In most cases they turn off commenting so nobody can say "this is a scam - do not DM them." It is SO annoying and frustrating. I report them every time and the good admins remove them right away. Unfortunately, they even get in past the filters you have to answer to get into some groups. Every time I see it my heart sinks, especially when I see how many people saw it and liked it, having no idea how many people actually DM'd them.
Omg my grandson has cancer autism cerebal palsy etc and this hurts my soul. We would never ever try to gain money from this. We cruise on our own dime with him to give him the best life we can .how sad
The FB groups I've joined always has a rule of no selling of any kind or they will be removed. I appreciate those admins!
I recently set up a sail group for a cruise we’re in next year, and I added very specific rules that nobody is to try and sell anything. Zero tolerance, I’ll be removing anyone who gets through (and I set some trip specific questions to get in in the first place). Some groups are riddled with fake tshirt tales because the admins got bored and walked away. Funny how travel agents see my rules and then decide not to sign up afterall ha.
I’m always reporting the T-Shirt scam to the admins. Last time I did, just before the post and “ person” was deleted from the group - the scammer actually threatened me. Told me they would sue me if I continued to say bad things. What a joke. Glad I got a rise out of them!!
It surprises me anyone falls for those tshirt and cup ads in the cruise groups!
The truth is always a defense to slander and liable…. This video alone is grounds for dismissal. Lol
Oh man, I did buy a couple of t-shirts through a Facebook group and never once thought of being scammed. I’m proud to say it wasn’t a scam and the group I joined was great. We did magnet and recipe exchange too. We had a meet up and took pictures. It was a lot of fun to see them around the ship and say hi. Too bad some people just like to ruin things for others.
First of all, nobody's allowed to bring commercial merchandise or make sales on board. Even if someone's legit, they may have their stuff confiscated and or get kicked off the ship.
Scammers make me so mad!!!
Us too!
I've been in 2 groups for Carnival that had a lady selling cruise ducks that turned out to be a scam. She got the first person, but the second group "caught her and outed her.
the big news is that people still use Facebook
This comment made us LOL. 🤣
stop! Can't help I love fb. What's your alternative?
Facebook is for people that have too much time on their hands and like drama
😂 guilty!
There are a lot of posts for selling ducks. Usually someone says they had to cancel their cruise and want to sell the ducks they purchased. Most of the time it will be several different people using the same pic. So it is easy to spot. The Facebook group of my last cruise asked everyone to report if they noticed them. Eventually they stopped.
I’ve seen the T-shirt scam many times on Celebrity Facebook cruise groups. The admins usually catch them but I do report them right away. Also beware of the scam that sells you a memory of your cruise when it’s over. I’ve seen slick videos and other stuff.
Very informative and needed, thank you Jordan😊🙏🏾
Wise words Jordan. You have to be very alert sadly enough 😢. I never give money / pay until i see the product in question in my hand .Had quite a few Friends that have been scammed , buying items on Fb or holiday resorts .
It's not just cruising. Trolls attach Facebook groups from "community yard sales" to "school chocolate sales". I use to sell items in a community group until the harassment was too much. Facelessness turns people into fools. BEWARE
I was seeing this shot glass one all the time on our FB group. Was not something we’d ever do but didn’t realise it was a scam! Thank you.
Be aware that some lines prohibit selling cruise related merch while on board. You are welcome to make things and give them away, but not to sell them. It becomes a fine line--how will they know if I brought a first aid item that someone on my cruise asked me to pick up for them while in port, but that is different than selling t-shirts.Botton line is to not send money in advance to ANYONE you don't know.
I need to preface that I don't usually join FB groups, so that is why I wasn't aware of this scam before. I will definitely be vigilant. Thank you for sharing
You’re welcome! Thanks for watching and we will always protect you Martine ❤️❤️
You’re welcome! Thanks for watching and we will always protect you Martine ❤️❤️
Makes it bad for the people who actually do have a business etc. But at the same time, sellers, have a reputable site, i.e etsy, own website, etc and complete the transaction that way. As a small business owner, it is hard also to "take a persons word" especially if creating custom items that they will hold their end of the bargain and pay C.O.D.
I was admin for our cruise group and I made sure posts had to be approved. Sales posts were never approved. Maybe I was mean. Lol
You seem like a great admin to us!
Nope gotta weed through the riff raff!
I wish the admin of my October 22 cruise had blocked all sales posts. I was scammed out of $70 by a post on our cruise page. You did your group a favor.
@carolnichols1900 I see things for sale in a lot of Facebook groups. It's almost always a scam. Sorry to hear about this. Totally sucks
I see this in so many of my cruise Facebook groups it’s now Stanley Cups they have to sell. The admins have not been handling this very well at least in some of these sailings
I agree. I reported it to the admin and they were still able to post multiple times on the cruise page.
I don't buy things from a fb page, but its nice to see people like you putting this stuff out there.
I literally just saw someone on the fb group for my upcoming cruise advertising the refillable cups like Royal gives for their soda package. I thought, who would do this and travel with a huge bag of cups lol. Thanks for sharing!!
I saw last week where somebody posted that they were looking for someone going to the ABC Islands to pick up shot glasses for them from each port and the person would pay them for the glasses and shipping or meet them in Ft. Lauderdale, as they lived there, to pick up the shot glasses. Super sketchy.
I know that Carnival and MSC both have specific regulations that prohibit, "Merchandise for Sale". So they could be removed from the ship by contacting Guest Services.
Good info. How about a video on the status of your move to the ship. It would be nice to see all the things you have to do to live on a ship.
Thank you for the information. This is unfair for those who are legit. Scammers are horrible.
I hate these scammers. I wish the group admins would ask more questions before allowing people into a group, especially if it's a private group. Some admins make groups public and allow anyone to join. I avoid those groups. We had a group for a cruise last year where we begged the admin to lock it down and use post approval but she refused, so a bunch of us left and started our own group.
Cash only, and pay only when you get the item. That applies everywhere that I do not trust 100%
We agree!
Great topic, people need to always be aware and be careful that the vacation brain fog isn't too thick
Someone always wants to separate you from your money, I ignore all the adds on Facebook. I have known others to order stuff an it never arrived. Thanks for the warning.
It’s so sad. On my first transatlantic a lovely lady showed her quilted door hanger than she adds to each cruise. I commented that my late mum would have totally been all over making the same sort of thing. She asked me my mums name and fav colour and actually made me one!!!! She put it on our door on embarkation which was so sweet. I hate that people have taken advantage of the good nature of others. On the same cruise an awesome single traveler made wrist bands to commemorate the trip and put up posts about where to find him to give the bracelets to people- he must of met the whole sailing!!!
Just a side note; If you order something and say you will pay in cash, please pi k it up and pay. Our last cruise, one of the admins had beads she was selling. She took many orders, but got stuck with about a third of them that never got picked up or paid for.
Thank you for the warning!
Good information. I never thought about that being a scam but it makes sense that people would try and use groups like this for scamming people. So sad! I have bought shirts before way before Covid from facebook cruise groups that I belonged too. It was fun to all wear our shirts at meet ups, etc. I haven't done it since Covid but will definitely be more aware. Thank you!
It’s generally a group admin, though, doing cruise group shirts. Like the one I was in that had them, we voted on which design and there was a lot of commenting, etc. These posts are just random people and sometimes the group will have just been started yet the person into g they have received soooo many orders already. Ummm the group just started so how would you have tons of orders? I just report them to the group admins.
There is a difference - the scammers all have the same post. If it’s a real person, it’s usually an admin. Plus, there will be lots of interaction, etc. The scam posts have been pretty easy to spot. I report all of them.
Thank you for the heads up
This is a tough one as I have purchased tshirts and mugs in the Facebook group we’re in and received all items as advertised without any problems. The scams are unfortunate and really take away from the experience. I’m now hesitant to make future purchases from other groups as we were probably lucky this time around. Thanks again for this information. It’s hard to tell the difference from honest sellers and scammers. Buyer beware.
Oh, I really hate these Facebook group scams. The t-shirt scams seem to be going through so many of these groups!
Good for you for raising awareness of this - the more people that know about it, the smaller the chance is that these people will continue to get away with what they're doing...!
Absolutely! It’s so sad people are getting scammed just in excitement of planning for their cruise.
Hopefully this will save at least a few more people from getting scammed 🙏🏼😅
@@JJCruise oh, I absolutely haaaate it!
Thanks for this information... sad but needed.
You can always tell them you will pay them on the cruise that's what I did
Thank you for sharing this information with everyone
I admin cruise groups, no selling is allowed ever. Also, I check all Facebook profiles before allowing people to join. Most of these scammers have fake FB profiles and often they are locked.
Cozumel, if we had not booked our tour through the ship, we would have been left there!
Just this week, the admin for one of our upcoming cruises had to kick a member out of the group because they were trying to sell something. It may have been legit, but the admin was very quick to point out that it was against group rules. I enjoyed your video, so I'm a new subscriber now!
Thanks for watching and subscribing!
Biggest scam was sitting in Celebrity Edge Luminae and being solicited by a staff member to buy a wine bottle opener.
Thanks for the warning. Someone on my FOS weekend cruise Facebook Group for June weekend already tried the rubber duck scam. I warned everyone.
This is so annoying, we have a small tour company based in Malaga, Spain. We love taking cruise customers on personal tours of our amazing city. Totally legit and a great value tour. Its impossible to get into the cruise market made even more difficult by everyone thinking everything is a scam.
I ran across what you spoke about on a FB group I joined for my cruise. The "cripple kid" scammer posted an appeal to purchase bracelets with the ship name and date of cruise, constructed by the cripple kid using only his teeth or something to that effect. I offered to pay for the kid and his mother, in full, but needed their personal information to do so.
Crickets...and the post was gone within the hour. Thank you for the topic.
That was incredibly kind of you. Very sad the things people will lie about to make an extra buck.
The one I see most often that involves a kid is the one that says something like "My son with autism designed this shirt and wants to see if you like it. He's watching to see your response. You can buy it at this link".
Thanks guys. Always helpful
We love being on Facebook pages for upcoming cruises to find out about meetups, slot pulls, and such. Scammers are everywhere. I usually stick to my own personal rule which is if it sounds too good to be true, then it probably isn’t. It prevents me from being scammed.
On a side note, I always thought when on an island where there’s a lot of haggling happening, I wanted to wear a shirt that said “No Thank You” on the front and “Don’t bother asking” on the back to see if that would prevent haggling…I wonder if that would work?
Thanks much for this. I've seen several posts like that in the group pages of my upcoming sailings. DUCKS are a big thing for sale. If allowed on those pages I will be sharing this video. 😄
Thank you so much for sharing! We hate that this is happening to innocent cruisers 😢
On our recent Carnival cruise, the admin was selling “coins” for our cruise at $30. We didn’t call her out because she was distributing them on the ship. They were pretty, but… I purchase challenge coins that are the same thing (traded by law enforcement) and the most they cost is $8-10 depending on quantity. She didn’t sell all of what she bought,and I figure people can decide what they value as cruise memorabilia.
Such good advice!!! Thank you. Love you guys
since Covid, the 1970’s+ age range of social media users has been more on the uptake and people are taking advantage of that.
Thank you for this content! I shared with my mom and grandma lol. Safe surfing 🏄♂️
First of all, thank you for letting me know about the groups on FB for an upcoming cruise. I joined one for a cruise I’m doing in May. Looking forward to see what everyone says. But believe me, I won’t be buying anything from anyone on the page. As always, great video and information from you. ❤
As a crafter that sells items from time to time. It’s not fair to ask us to cover the cost of everything until you get on the ship and then forget you ordered or change your mind. Better idea would be to use a goods and services thru PayPal or other app so that you are covered. I buy things on FB all the time with no issues. It’s a shame scammers are making it so difficult for reputable people.
Every single FB group I have joined for my cruises I have seen the scams of "selling" merch for that cruise. I always report to the group Admins (or ban myself when I'm the Admin). And, for those that I'm not the Admin, I reply with "SCAM" so others know. They just SUCK!
BTW, it is illegal to use the NCL logo on any merch without their expressed consent.
Thank you JJ cruise you guys rock ⚓️⚓️🎩🎩🛳🛳🚢
Thank you very much Bruce!
Yep, shot glasses and tee shirt spam are suuuuper common. I mod and admin 3-4 large cruise groups and we are constantly chasing them away. 😞
People CAN buy those things in the ship's gift shops and even on shore if you go to one of the private cruise islands. They have lots of stuff with the ship logo.
Tell them that you will pay cash on the ship.
The Invicta watch "sales" are are scam and they cruise puts these on, selling $50 watch for $250.
1:38 to get to the point, these guys have a tendency to yap a lot before getting to the point
I'm an admin of a cruise fb group. The other scam is the xbox they are giving away because their child dird. They ask for shipping money. Had one of those last week.
I saw that shot glass FB ad and sure enough, it's a scam. They wanted payment prior and I said no....I would only pay onboard. That ended the conversation.
Thanks for the warning. Like you mentioned, my golden rule is NEVER send someone cash, use a cash equivalent transfer service or bank transfer to pay someone. I ONLY pay via credit card or PayPal, where I can claim the money back when there is fraud involved. I still use common sense, but it means I don't have to investigate each thing I might want to buy online, because I know I'm protected anyway. Plus, when you only buy via sites/people that accept credit card/paypal, you already cut out about 90% of fraudsters, because they prefer to be paid in ways that's not traceable.
I was on the group cruise chat and seen different people selling different stuff, I just ignore it and told them not interested.
If you're going to sell something like that you should get a headcount of who is interested and then bring it on board to sell for cash in hand. There are crafters I would love to support since I never have time to make anything like that for myself.
one to watch for in Miami the yellow cabs will say once they get you to the airport that their card reader is not working and that it has to be cash only, once you challenge they will "try to fix it" and like magic its working and the price will make you throw up, $57 for port miami to mia
We also had just recently heard about this one too. It’s sad that people are taking advantage of others in this way too.
Then it’s time guys for me to pick you up and just drive u to Miami airport!
We always appreciate your offer Dana! One of these days we will take you up on it! After this one we’re driving up to Port Canaveral for our next Crusie. :)
@@JJCruisewhat and when is your next cruise? We are going on wonder in about 4 weeks
Three cruises a year here. One of those is a suite in the Edge class Celebrity ships.
I am one of those people who actually plans a tee or bracelet or something, but ask that I receive cash first night of cruise. It doesn't really work well because there's always Mr Need-A-Discount and the group of 12 that never shows to pickup their package.
Yep, never pay in advance. The seller understands they - as the seller - have to take the chance that someone won't show. Likely they'll be able to sell it anyway while onboard.
Great advice. Thank you.
What an excellent video. Very informative.
I just started using FB groups for my cruises and haven't seen this (although I would never send strangers money for any reason). I agree, it's best to conduct any financial transactions on the ship once you know there are actual products the person is selling.
What I have seen on FB groups and Cruise Critic roll calls are cruisers trying to get other cruisers to join in on a private excursion. Those may be legit but I'm just leery about going into any transaction or agreement with strangers online period no matter how sincere they seem or how good the small group tour seems.
We had someone in our upcoming July cruise facebook group say that they had all these ducks to hide but ended up not being able to cruise. They were asking for people to hide them I’m not sure what she asked the people to do once they responded but I alerted our admin and she was booted out of the group.
Never had a problem pre lock down.
Pre-pandemic we saw this way less (not really not at all).
I keep seeing cheap cruises for seniors. Unsold cabins for cheap. Meanwhile I’m hearing about oversold ships. I don’t know if any of the cruise sites are real?
I saw that shot glass post in my cruise group for Icon of the Seas , April 20th. Someone called her out and she was blocked. I was like, who needs a shot glass anyway, especially when they’ve purchased the drink package???
That’s a great point 🤣!
Hey J. A Facebook group scam? Wow. I was on Oasis last August and joined the group sailing. There were posts about teeshirts, bar crawls, slot pulls etc; but I don’t know these random ppl. Now if on a group cruise such as MAS with Rich and Jasmine or you guys or Don that’s different. It’s unfortunate the amount of scamming and theft in general in this world 🤷🏻♀️🤦♀️. Thanks for sharing.
Never tell strangers where and when you won’t be home.
As admin of my cruise group. I look at their sailings. If they have more than 5 and some are on the same date I decline the invite.
How is it possible the cruise operators allow passengers to bring merchandise on the ship to sell to other cruisers? Even though that may have happened in the past, it seems most likely the cruise line doesn’t know it’s happening. Would be a copyright infringement if any official logos were used.
I never buy anything online except for Amazon and Walmart. Dating apps are terrible for scammers asking for money. Makes sense that there are plenty of scammers on Facebook. I used cruise critic roll call to meet people on my last 2 cruises. I think it's safer.
Thank you for sharing, definitely have seen those and thought they were legit. Crazy
I’ve been an admin of a few fb groups. I have my own method for weeding out scammers. It’s not foolproof but it helps a lot. The downside is it takes about 15 minutes a day of active work in managing the group. Looking through member profiles, etc. I remove any members that solicit payments or advertise in any way.
I was the admin for our cruise a couple of weeks ago, I finally had to change to post approval because of the scammers
I’ve seen these post in my upcoming cruise group and the exact same post in an old cruise group that I’m still in
I normally grab a couple shot glasses from around the US and give them out when people come have a drink with me and my crew, I see people are even kinda worried about my post even tho I’m giving the away for free
I don't think any/all cruise companies allow selling of anything by an individual..... so what you are suggesting simply cannot happen.
Well presented!🎖🎖🎖😎😎😎🌟🌟🌟
If someone was legitimately selling items, I would ask them if I can give them cash onboard when I see them. If they say no, there is a good chance its a scam. As I just typed this, he said it! There also seems to be a cruising duck scam on these roll call groups. People post pictures of their ducks (usually the same photo) and say they had to cancel their cruise and looking to sell their ducks.
I didn't know there was a Facebook page for people cruising on a certain cruise line and week
I always bring stuff on ship to sell. But i always get the money when i get there. I make a lot of custom shot glasses and a lot of other stuff. I also post videos of it being made and have a legit business that can be found online as well have a physical location.
On our Sky Princess FB group we kept getting ads and fake testimonials for a excursion company promoting their tours. The problem was this company WAS the admin for the group as they had started the group. So who would I complain to?