A Cuban resident in Galicia, Spain, identified on TikTok as Leya (@leyanetfrankedelp), posted a video recounting two scams since her arrival in the country: the first perpetrated by a fellow Cuban living in Russia, and the second with legal consequences that left her in the position of being accused.
The video accumulated over 5,800 views, 319 likes, and 15 comments in just a few hours, and is part of a series. It details the first scam and hints that the second was financially more severe and involved the freezing of his bank accounts.
The first scam started when a Cuban resident in Russia offered to bring Leya's mother-in-law from Cuba to Spain, taking advantage of the fact that Cuban citizens can travel to Russia without a visa for 90 days for tourism. The plan was for the mother-in-law to fly first to Moscow and then continue on to Spain.
Leya's motivation was practical and understandable: she works at night and needed family support to care for her daughter, who is at daycare until four in the afternoon. Adapting to life in Galicia involves facing everyday challenges that many Cuban emigrants are well aware of.
Leya paid 600 euros for a plane ticket to Russia that the scammer sent her written in Russian. When she showed it to a Russian coworker, the response was immediate: "That ticket is fake." This type of fraud is not new: scams involving fake plane tickets have affected many Cubans in recent years.
When Leya confronted the scammer, she did not acknowledge the fraud but instead demanded the remaining payment: "You need to make the rest of the payment, which totaled 2,000 euros." When Leya refused, she was blocked. Leya lost the 600 euros with no chance of recovering them.
What makes the case especially painful is the origin of the betrayal. The scams committed by fellow countrymen are a reality that many Cuban emigrants have reported, and this creates a distrust that is difficult to overcome within the community itself.
Leya's case is not the only one of its kind in Spain. The reverse Bizum scam and other forms of financial fraud have impacted Latin American migrants in the country, many of whom are unaware of their rights or the legal mechanisms available to protect themselves.
Leya revealed that the second scam was even more serious and resulted in the blocking of her bank accounts, putting her in a position of being accused by the authorities. Understanding the financial risks when arriving in Spain is information that many newcomers wish they had received in time.
"Today I share something that hurt me… my first scam, and the hardest part was not the money, but that it came from a fellow countrywoman," Leya wrote at the end of the video, capturing with that phrase the emotional weight that goes beyond the financial loss. The history of scams affecting Cubans both on the island and abroad continues to grow, and cases like hers serve as a warning for those seeking help within their own community.
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