A YouTuber has issued an urgent warning to cruise ship passengers about an online scam involving the sale of rubber ducks. 

Gary Bembridge, who runs the Tips For Travellers channel, opened up about a light-hearted practice unique to cruise ships, where passengers hide rubber ducks around the ship for others to find. 

In fact, it’s proven so popular that hundreds of thousands of people have reportedly taken part in the activity over the last five or six years, according to Cruise Critic. 

However, it would appear that fraudsters have been paying attention and have sadly jumped on the opportunity to exploit fans of the tradition on social media.

Gary said: “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 explained that he’s spotted scammers posting on social media, particularly in Facebook groups, with stock images of ducks, including some that are “seemingly homemade”. 

Gary said the crooks are then seen “lamenting” about how the cruise they were planning to take has been cancelled or because they can no longer go on their trip.  

He continued: “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.”

Gary added: “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.”

It wouldn’t be the first time that a warning has been issued to passengers about scammers on social media. In December, Ilana Schattauer, from Life Well Cruised, revealed one ploy that involved something known as a ‘slot-pool’. 

Schattauer explained that passengers will post in Facebook groups and request a slot-pool with others. It means they want to pool their money together in an effort to win in the on-board casinos.

However, although this does occur among legitimate players, scammers have also capitalised on the opportunity and asked people to send their cash over prior to boarding.