A 40-year-old woman in Rome, Italy has devised a new method to steal the money of acquaintances offering them a family cruise with a 40% discount. The woman was claiming to be a sister of a respectable employee of Costa Cruises who was working in the head office, and thanks to the family and friends program she can access more than favorable discounts. She lured her victims with a tempting offer on the purchase of cruise packages.

The scam is studied very well, as the names of the ships and the amount to pay are credible, as well as providing all the details such as departure and arrival times, etc. One victim says that she was offered a short cruise of four days and three nights, with route Civitavecchia-Barcelona-Malaga-Civitavecchia, in a cabin with a double bed for an adult and two children. The regular price of 1500 euros was discounted by 40% thanks to the famous hooks of the scammer. The total thus becomes 780 euros, of which 150 euros to be paid immediately as down payment. Obviously, the scammer said the cabin was the last one left, so the sum had to be paid urgently. Convinced now of the holiday, the victim has paid the money and sent a photocopy of the document.

After a few hesitations, the victim was suspicious after leaving the advance for the alleged trip and contacted Costa Cruises directly to confirm the ship and the itinerary of the alleged journey. Obviously, the Costa Cruises said that no ship will sail from Civitavecchia on the scheduled date, and that offers such as that advanced by the scammer are inevitably a hoax. Unfortunately, this is just one of the many victims of the skilled scammer, who is acting in similar ways for some time.