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An investigation by the independent media El Toque documented at least two cases of telephone scams in Cuba where criminals used real data from shipments made through the agency Cubamax to deceive families on the island, resulting in losses that exceeded 104,000 Cuban pesos in the most severe case.
The main case involves Diana Benítez, a Cuban resident in the United States, who on May 23 made a purchase through Cubamax to send to her mother in Havana.
On May 31, around 11:00 p.m., the mother received a call from a private number from someone who identified themselves as an employee of the agency and demanded an additional payment, claiming a backlog of packages due to the fuel crisis.
What led to the victim's downfall was that the interlocutors conveyed precise and real information about the transaction. "They told her it was a shipment made by me (Diana Benítez) from the United States, that it had a specific invoice code (and they provided the number), as well as another for tracking the delivery," Benítez recounted to the media.
Through the Transfermóvil application, the scammers guided the woman to enter a series of supposed "codes" that were actually withdrawal amounts.
"She barely understood. She completed the transaction, checked her balance, and saw that money had been deducted from her account. Then they started telling her that the money wasn't going through, that the operation was incorrect, and they began giving her new codes and steps," explained the daughter.
The requests repeated for almost an hour, with promises of refunds that were never fulfilled, until the total loss exceeded 104,000 CUP.
The scammers identified themselves as Alberto Quesada López and mentioned a supposed worker named Rosario Pérez González, who would come to resolve the issue. The number provided for operations, 53534011, was always switched off when the victim tried to reach out.
After learning about what happened, Benítez went to the Cubamax offices in Kendall and Hialeah, where she claims she was treated disrespectfully and none of the employees showed any interest in investigating.
Subsequently, he filed a formal complaint via email, describing the situation as "an unacceptable security failure in the handling of the database" and stating that "the breach of private data and extortion are matters of legal severity."
The response arrived signed by Giraldo Acosta, representing the management of the agency. "Cubamax has not suffered any vulnerabilities, data breaches, or security incidents related to our clients' information," he asserted, and recommended filing a report with the Cuban authorities.
The second case documented by El Toque recorded a loss of 99 CUP, but the method was practically identical, and the criminals also had precise details of the shipment.
This pattern of fraud is part of a sustained increase in digital scams in Cuba, where similar cases had already been reported in Sancti Spíritus and Las Tunas as of April.
The organizations Food Monitor Program and Cuido60 warned in May that the elderly are the most vulnerable group to this type of phone fraud.
In Las Tunas, more than 80% of respondents are aware of cases of bank fraud or have experienced it directly, according to data from April 2026.
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