If it looks too good to be true, it probably is.

There are various types of cruise fraud, but they almost all depend on the offer of jobs that require no qualifications but which will pay high wages or attract large tips.

The main type involves a promise of work in return for a bribe or payment. This may be disguised as an agency or registration fee or, increasingly, as payment for a medical examination, visa, passport processing, or bank transfer that is only asked for when you think you’re on the point of getting the job.

It may be made to look like something you have to pay a government department, clinic, or bank, or you may be asked for money for airfares to join a ship and promised you’ll get the money back when you arrive. YOU WILL NOT.

Other frauds include:

— Payment of money direct to a local bank in order to join a cargo ship (often supposedly waiting for you in Port Harcourt, Nigeria).

— Payment to have your job application or CV circulated to prospective employers, often with a guarantee that if you don’t get a job, you’ll get your money back. You can usually be sure you will not get either.

— Websites that invite you to post your CV for free. Your personal details can be used for identity fraud, especially if you are then approached by an employer who asks you to send your passport and seafarers’ certificate (this is also a common feature of the Nigerian scam mentioned above, whose perpetrators regularly use different company names, including ones supposedly based in the USA or Europe).

— Unsolicited job offers that arrive by e-mail.