English
Brightwell Payments:
@brightwell.com
@brightwell.zendesk.com
Scam Protection
These days, reports of fraud and scams are becoming increasingly common. Every week, our website receives at least one message about a new tactic used to steal people’s money and personal data. It’s essential to stay vigilant, especially for seafarers, as scammers are becoming more creative and sophisticated.
We’ve divided this tutorial into two complementary sections. In the first part, we discuss the most common scams and schemes to watch out for. In the second part, we provide tutorials to help you maintain a safe distance and, most importantly, avoid falling victim to these tricks.
Most common scams:
Scammers often target seafarers in four main ways: fake agencies and recruiters targeting those seeking new jobs, individuals impersonating someone you know, social media influencers trying to sell courses on how to apply, and fraudulent emails posing as companies, recruiters, or payment card providers.
If you aren’t aware already, our website maintains a comprehensive list of known scammers and fraudulent schemes on our Fake Agencies and Recruiters page. For a list of verified and legitimate agencies, visit our Recruitment Agencies page.
1. Fake agencies and recruiters
Fake agencies and recruiters often employ similar fraudulent tactics. They target individuals seeking positions on cruise ships, ferries, river cruises or hotels and resorts, presenting themselves as official recruiters for a company or even as a yacht captain, as if your resume says that you have experience as a hotel coordinator, the job offer is for a guest services coordinator, youth coordinator, restaurant reservations coordinator, and so on. They then offer positions tailored to the applicant’s preferences, as once the candidate falls into the trap, the scam typically involves stealing personal data for further fraudulent activities and requesting payment for services like “processing documents,” acquiring a “green card”, “special visa”, or securing the promised position. These practices blatantly violate the IMO’s guidelines for agencies and recruiters.
AGENCIES AND RECRUITERS DO NOT ASK FOR MONEY
2. Fake friends or co-workers
This scam is particularly common on Facebook, where it’s easy for someone to impersonate someone you know by copying their photos and using the same profile name. The fraud typically begins when you receive a friend request or message request from someone who appears familiar. Scammers often go as far as adding several mutual friends to make their profile seem legitimate, targeting entire groups at once. Someone less cautious may see the mutual friends and, unsure if they know the person, accept the request.
The scam progresses when the scammer sends a message introducing themselves. Shortly after, they ask questions like, “Did you get the salary bonus?” or “Did you see the latest email?” followed by a link. These links are designed to steal your personal and payment card information, enabling the scammers to access your salary or savings.
Fortunately, such scams can often be identified as fake. For instance, there’s no such thing as a “salary bonus” offered via social media, and most fake links contain a mix of random numbers and words, making them easy to spot. Always remain cautious and verify the authenticity of any unexpected message or link.
DO NOT ACCEPT FRIEND REQUESTS FROM STRANGERS
DO NOT CLICK ON LINKS OF "SALARY BONUS"
3. Social influencers promoting "courses to embark".
These days, it’s common to see influencers on social media promoting video courses on “how to apply” or “how to become a _________ on board”. These courses often use catchy phrases or highlight high salaries compared to land-based jobs, making many people believe they need to pay for this information. That can be easily found on the internet, on our very own shiplife.org (salary comparison), personal blogs or with video tutorials on YouTube and so on.
However, it is a proven concept and easy enough to understand that cruise lines often prefer to hire individuals with no prior training (“green” crew members) rather than those who have taken unofficial courses. This is because many of these paid trainings provide misleading information and poor instructions, which can ultimately lead to job dismissals due to inadequate performance.
Onboard, all positions go through a structured handover or shadowing process, ensuring that new hires learn everything they need for free and the right way. In fact, some cruise lines even require new employees to complete onboard training programs for several weeks before starting work. This helps them unlearn bad habits and incorrect teachings from external courses, allowing them to start fresh with proper training.
YOU DO NOT NEED THESE COURSES TO APPLY
4. Impersonating recruiters or fraudulent emails
This is one of the most common scams affecting crew members worldwide. Fortunately, thanks to educational tutorials like this one on our website, fewer people are falling for these tricks.
From time to time, you may hear about a security breach within your cruise company where personal data is stolen or compromised. In these cases, hackers gain access to thousands of private profiles and attempt to scam employees or card users using familiar tactics. They often impersonate the cruise line or payment company, requesting personal information or sending suspicious links designed to steal data, clone identities, or withdraw funds from accounts.
These types of frauds are easier to spot on a computer, where you can see the full email address of the sender and preview links by hovering over them. However, on a phone, identifying scams can be trickier. Still, by using common sense and avoiding interaction with suspicious emails, you can stay safe.
To further protect yourself, continue to the next step, where we’ll show you how to create email filters to block these scam messages effectively.
DO NOT ACCEPT FRIEND REQUESTS FROM STRANGERS
DO NOT CLICK ON LINKS OF "SALARY BONUS"
How to create filters on your Email:
For example purposes, we will use an email from gmail and mention the bank Brightwell. As for this tutorial to work, do not use the Gmail app on your phone. Instead, open a web browser and log into your Gmail account (same for any other service you might be using, as the app versions often do not include filtering).
1. Click the Settings button (cogwheel icon) in the top-right corner and select “See all settings.”
2. Navigate to the “Filters and Blocked Addresses” tab and from here, you can create new filters using different email fields, such as: From, To, Subject, Has words, Doesn’t have words, Has attachments and Message size.
The simplest way to filter emails is by using the “From” field. A combination of “From” and “Has words” can also be highly effective.
Example: Creating a Filter for Brightwell Bank Emails
In this example, we will create a filter to organize messages from Brightwell Bank, which is used by Norwegian Cruise Line, Carnival Cruises, Princess Cruises, and many others. As of April 2021, all official emails from Brightwell come from:
@brightwell.com
@brightwell.zendesk.com
Steps to Create the Filter:
1. Click “Create a new filter”. In the “From” field, enter one of the Brightwell email domains (e.g., @brightwell.com). And then click “Create filter.”
2. Choose an action, as for this example, select “Apply the label”, then “Create a new label”, name it “Brightwell”, and confirm. Click “Create filter” again to save.
3. Repeat the process for @brightwell.zendesk.com, selecting the same “Brightwell” label.
Now, all emails matching these filters will be automatically tagged as “Brightwell” and moved to that label/folder in your Gmail account. This change will also be reflected in the Gmail app on your phone. In this tutorial we used Gmail and Brightwell, but you can use any other email service you use with any other combination of words you may choose in order to match your bank details.
What if an email from “Brightwell” wasn’t redirected?
If you received an email from “Brightwell” but it wasn’t moved to the designated folder/label, chances are it’s not an official message from the company. Instead, it could be spam or a scam attempt. Before taking any action, read the message carefully. If it asks you to click on links or provide personal information, proceed with caution. You can also choose to block the sender to prevent future attempts. Congratulations! You’re now effectively filtering important messages in your email account.
Beware of False Positives:
Did a filtered email from “Brightwell” request personal information or ask you to click a suspicious link? Sometimes, scammers manipulate the “From” field to make an email appear as if it’s from a trusted source. This is known as a false positive (while rare), it can happen. To prevent this, you can refine your filters by adding extra rules, such as keywords or phrases commonly found in legitimate emails. However, the chances of encountering this are very low.
Apply These Filters to Any Email Account
You can repeat this filtering process as many times as needed, using different email addresses, fields, or rules to organize your inbox effectively. As long as you rely on official sources and avoid clicking on unverified links, your email security remains intact. Although this tutorial is based on Gmail, you can find similar settings on other email providers like Yahoo, iCloud, and Hotmail. Use what you’ve learned here and share this knowledge with colleagues, friends, and family to help them stay safe online!
Official email addresses:
We’ve compiled a little database of official email addresses that companies and banks use to send messages for crew members and are more often targeted by scammers. Use these addresses to create filters on your email accounts depending to which cruise line or payment provider you have access to.
Shipmoney:
cardholdersupport@shipmoney.net
Northlane:
@northlane.com
Wirecard / Salary @ Sea:
prepaidhelp@wirecard.com
Carnival Cruise Line:
@carnival.com
@carnivalentertainment.com
crewassistance@carnival.com
interviews@hirevue.com
Norwegian Cruise Line:
@ncl.com
@email.ncl.com
system@successfactors.com
Virgin Voyages:
@virginvoyages.com
@hirevue.com
Royal Caribbean:
@rcclapac.com
@myrclhome.com
@ociokonsulting.com