Google AI Overviews and ChatGPT Reportedly Cited Fraudulent Cruise Hotline, Allegedly Enabling Successful Scam
Google's AI Overviews allegedly surfaced a fraudulent customer service number for Royal Caribbean. Consumer Alex Rivlin reportedly called the number, spoke with an impostor, and provided his credit card, later incurring $768 in fraudulent charges. The same number reportedly appeared in ChatGPT results and was linked to Disney and Princess cruises, purportedly showing how scammers are manipulating AI outputs to amplify longstanding hotline scams.
- Date it happened
- 2025-08-15
- Organisation involved
- Unknown scammers impersonating Royal Caribbean, Unknown scammers impersonating Disney Cruise Line, Unknown scammers impersonating Princess Cruises, Scammers
- Product, system or model
- Google AI overview, ChatGPT
This incident was imported from AI Incident Database and is used under CC BY-SA 4.0. Our additions to it — the structured fields, the translation, the checks against other reports — are published under the same licence.
This is a record of what was reported, not a finding that anyone broke the law. If it names your organisation and you believe it is wrong, the corrections process is free and open to everyone.