For four passengers, the cruise ended on a bitter note with their arrest in Miami.
Their crime? They used fake credit cards to win big at the ship’s Vegas casino on Deck 7.
The perpetrators, Michael F. Emmanuel (35) and Tyrisha Delgado (38) from Boston and Devin Jones (28) and Quentin Marcellus Tuck (32) from Beaumont, Texas, now face a number of charges in Miami, including grand theft and organized fraud.
According to arrest reports during a cruise on board MSC Cruises’ MSC Cruiseswhich departed from Miami on August 19, 2024, the suspects allegedly attempted to withdraw large sums of money by paying with fake credit cards.
The security team on board the 2,550-passenger ship, which was heading to the Bahamas, detected suspicious activity and alerted U.S. Customs and Border Protection. ^ “NBC Miami”. This led to a more thorough investigation into the suspects’ bookings and transactions on board.
The investigation revealed that the suspects had provided three different credit cards during their trip, all of which were declined due to their fraudulent nature. A search of their personal belongings, including their phones, revealed numerous personal identifying details, suggesting an organized fraud scheme.
When the 95,128 gross tonnage ship returned to PortMiami after a four-day cruise with stops in Ocean Cay and Nassau, Bahamas, the four people were taken into custody and taken to the Miami-Dade jail.
The four were charged with organized fraud, third-degree grand larceny, possession of false identification and credit card fraud, all of which are felonies.
Bail was set at $2,500 for each suspect. Each of the defendants pleaded not guilty and requested a jury trial. Their trials are scheduled for September 23, 2024.
Preventing fraud at sea
This is not the first time Miami-Dade police have waited at the Port of Miami to arrest passengers who committed fraud on a cruise ship. In November 2023 four passengers travel with Carnival Cruise Line‘S Carnival celebration were arrested for using stolen credit card information to make purchases and large withdrawals.
Like on board MSC Cruises, The Carnival ship’s security team discovered the fraud during the 5,374-passenger ship’s 7-day voyage to the Western Caribbean. In coordination with law enforcement, the individuals, aged between 29 and 31, were arrested after using multiple credit cards.
Purchases made onboard in this incident ranged from $2,700 to nearly $20,000, with one of the passengers using a stolen credit card to book the cruise.
Read also: Miami Cruise Port Guide: Terminals, Transportation and More
Earlier this year, a 31-year-old woman from North Carolina was arrested by Miami-Dade police after Royal Caribbean International Oasis of the Seas’ The security team claimed that they had eight stolen credit cards to accumulate costs of over $22,000 during a cruise to the Caribbean.
Cruise ship security teams are well trained and equipped to detect and combat fraudulent activities, as demonstrated by recent arrests in Miami. Sophisticated surveillance systems, particularly in ships’ casinos, play a critical role in protecting passengers.
While it may be easier to spot fraudulent credit cards if the card is declined at the casino or ATM, many cruise lines allow their passengers to transfer all onboard charges to their account, and discrepancies may not be noticed until the billing process at the end of the voyage.
Passengers can protect themselves by checking their accounts daily onboard through the cruise line’s app, setting up alerts for all transactions made through their account, keeping credit cards and other payment methods secure, and reporting suspicious activity immediately.
