A Cuban identified as Leidy Laura Galban published a video on Facebook warning about a scam method involving transfer payments in the province of Cienfuegos, which, according to comments, is being replicated in several provinces across the country.
The mechanism, which Galban describes based on his sister-in-law's experience, is as follows: the seller accepts payment through Transfermóvil, but instead of providing their real phone number, they give the number of an accomplice who is present at the location.
When the buyer makes the transfer, the confirmation goes to the accomplice's phone, not the seller's, and the latter claims that "nothing arrived" in order to refuse to deliver the goods.
"What they do is give you another number to confirm, which means that the confirmation will never reach them at that phone number they provided," Galban explained in the video.
Galban's sister-in-law managed to uncover the deception by asking for the number to be repeated and calling it at that moment, confirming that the ringing phone belonged to the accomplice present in the establishment.
"It's me who's calling you. Look, the incoming call is mine," Galban recounted, reproducing her sister-in-law's words upon discovering the fraud.
The comments on the video reveal that this trend is not exclusive to Cienfuegos: users report similar cases in Havana, Camagüey, Villa Clara, Guanabo, Abreus, and Baracoa.
A commentator reported losing his money in Havana: "I went to the bank, and they gave me a statement showing the transfer made from my account, and even then, they didn't give me the merchandise."
The most frequently repeated recommendations by users include calling the provided number before transferring to verify that it matches, reviewing the last 10 transactions in the Transfermóvil app, and dialing 800-88888 to confirm if a transfer was actually completed.
This report is situated within a context of the proliferation of digital scams in Cuba related to the widespread use of Transfermóvil and EnZona, driven by the economic crisis and forced banking since 2021.
In May 2026, the elderly were identified as the most vulnerable group to these digital scams in Cuba, due to their lower technological literacy and weakened family networks because of emigration.
A survey conducted in Las Tunas in April 2026 indicated that 84% of respondents knew a victim or had directly experienced a digital scam.
The Central Bank of Cuba has issued multiple alerts warning that no official administrator of Transfermóvil, EnZona, or banks contacts customers through private messages. However, the problem persists and extends to all provinces of the country, where transfers are irreversible by design, and banks cannot refund funds without a court order or proof of technical error.
A user in the comments also warned about another variant of the fraud: error messages during the transfer that lead the buyer to repeat the payment multiple times, resulting in duplicate charges that the seller may not have necessarily planned for.
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