A YouTuber has issued a stark warning to cruise ship passengers about an online scam involving the sale of rubber ducks.
Gary Bembridge, who runs the Tips For Travellers channel, revealed a quirky tradition unique to cruise ships, where passengers hide rubber ducks around the vessel for others to discover.
According to the reviews website Cruise Critic, the fun activity has attracted hundreds of thousands of participants over the past five or six years. However, it seems fraudsters have taken note and are exploiting fans of the tradition on social media.
Gary warned: “On many cruises, the trend of taking and hiding rubber ducks on board has become quite a big thing. Wherever something’s popular, scammers, of course, move right in.”
He noted that he’s seen scammers posting on social media, especially in Facebook groups, with stock images of ducks, including some that appear “seemingly homemade”.
Gary observed these con artists “lamenting” about how their planned cruise has been cancelled or they can no longer go on their trip, reports the Express.
He added: “They then invite people to direct message them and offer to send the ducks in return just for the cost of postage, which does seem often surprisingly high. Of course, people sending money via the requested usual cash transfer apps never receive anything.
“From comments online in groups and on sites that are actually dedicated to the cruise duck phenomenon, it looks like scammers have been very active and they’ve actually made a rather tidy sum from this particular scam, so make sure that is one you duck.”
This isn’t the first time travellers have been cautioned about con artists on social media. Back in December, Ilana Schattauer from the travel blog Life Well Cruised divulged a scam strategy which involved what is referred to as a “slot-pool”.
She pointed out that travellers might write in social media groups proposing a slot-pool with others, which means gathering funds together in hopes of winning big in the ship’s casino.
While there are honest players who engage in this, Schattauer warned that dishonest individuals have exploited this concept by getting people to send them money before the cruise begins.