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A new case of counterfeit 100-dollar bills has been detected recently in the province of Matanzas, this time in the municipality of Unión de Reyes. The incident has raised alarms again regarding the circulation of fraudulent currency in the country.
The individual involved in this case, a young woman identified as Irayis Cañizares Hernández, was caught by the authorities while attempting to pay with a counterfeit bill at a private café, as revealed by the official pro-government Facebook profile Con Todos la Victoria.
However, what seemed like a simple attempt at petty fraud quickly escalated into a more serious matter when the police discovered that Irayis not only had that bill, but also had another 16 of the same denomination, all of which were counterfeit.
The aforementioned official source indicated that the incident is being investigated by the authorities, although details regarding the possible origin of the bills have not been disclosed, nor whether Irayis acted alone or as part of a larger network.
However, suspicions regarding a possible distribution chain are growing due to the recurrence of similar cases in the province.
Mixed reactions on social media
The case has sparked a wave of comments on social media, where different versions and theories intersect. For some users, the seriousness of the incident lies in the recklessness of the young woman. "The girl is bold; she didn't assess the danger even while being in it," wrote a user.
Others, on the other hand, see these episodes as a state strategy to discourage the use of dollars in the informal market.
"That strategy is used by the Cuban G2 to instill fear in the people so that buying and selling U.S. dollars goes through the bank," commented one user, to which another replied: "The news is true, I'm from Unión."
Amid skepticism and mockery, many pointed out that the counterfeit bills may originate from prop sets for film productions.
"These bills are not fake; they are from a game in the United States," commented one user, to which another replied: "They sell them on Shein and Temu. It even says: it's for filming, it's so easy to read."
Similar cases in Matanzas
This is not an isolated incident. In July of this year, another man was arrested in Colón, also in Matanzas, for attempting to pay for hygiene products with a counterfeit $100 bill.
In that case, the individual was arrested in a private tent after the counter assistant detected the forgery.
Months earlier, in February, another similar incident occurred in the municipality of Jovellanos, where a man was arrested after attempting to pay with another counterfeit $100 bill in a café.
A phenomenon with history
Although in Cuba the most common complaints tend to be related to the counterfeiting of Cuban pesos, fake hundred-dollar bills have appeared on other occasions. In 2023, a larger-scale case was reported in Sancti Spíritus, where three individuals were arrested for selling counterfeit dollars through the classified ads site Revolico.
According to a report from the provincial newspaper Escambray, these individuals sold several victims counterfeit dollars at rates ranging from 800 to 1,500 dollars each, at a price of between 160 and 170 Cuban pesos per dollar, based on the exchange rate at that time.
The victims were identified in municipalities such as Sancti Spíritus, Taguasco, and Cabaiguán. The profits from each operation reached up to 160,000 pesos, revealing a well-organized fraud structure.
The recent case in Unión de Reyes is just another chapter in a growing and concerning phenomenon: the circulation of counterfeit bills in an economy that is already severely impacted.
Although the authorities insist on the need to maintain vigilance and act with "zero tolerance," the structural causes of this practice continue to be unaddressed: the scarcity of foreign currency, the informality of the market, and the desperation that drives many to risk everything for a supposed opportunity.
What is clear is that the circulation of counterfeit $100 bills in Matanzas is neither a coincidence nor an isolated incident, but rather part of a pattern that demands deeper and less propagandistic responses.
Meanwhile, citizens -as a commentator wisely warned- “will need to be more discerning in any purchase or sale, even for a simple little coffee cup.”
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