A café worker in Ciego de Ávila was allegedly scammed with a counterfeit $100 bill and ended up having to cover the loss out of her own pocket, according to a report that has sparked numerous reactions on social media.
The alert was posted by Yeilan Pérez in the Facebook group «Revolico Ciego de Ávila», where he claimed that a man arrived at the establishment, located near the railway, and managed to pay with the allegedly counterfeit bill.
"This character is out there scamming with counterfeit money, with fake dollars; he takes advantage of the innocence of elderly people and tries to lure them into his trap," Pérez reported while sharing photos of the alleged scammer.
The employee, a woman who has been working at the establishment for years, had to replace the 100 dollars, a significant amount in the current economic context in Cuba.
"It was 100 dollars, gentlemen, that she had to pay at her job. This person is on medication because of this situation. You know how hard one has to fight to earn 100 dollars," lamented the complainant.
The business's security cameras captured images of the alleged scammer and, according to Pérez, the case has already been reported to the police.
The post also triggered testimonies from individuals claiming to have faced similar situations. One user stated that the same man attempted to pay her with counterfeit dollars at her workplace.
"When I told him they were fake, I realized he was a con artist because he only pretended to be surprised; it was obvious that it was all an act," he recounted.
Another resident stated that, about a month ago, two people came to his home to sell him $200 that turned out to be counterfeit and fled when he discovered the deception.
Additionally, among the numerous reactions was one from a user who identified himself as the brother of the young man in question. He stated that his brother is experiencing a relapse into drug use and urged the café's management to get in touch with him, offering to cover the lost money.
Another relative, who claimed to be his uncle, also acknowledged the seriousness of the situation and stated that, although he did not want to see him imprisoned, perhaps jail would ultimately serve as a means for him to receive help for his addiction, as he asserted, "the psychiatric hospital is closed."
Beyond the possible individual responsibility of the young man highlighted in the post, some users raised a question that remains unanswered: Where do the counterfeit dollars come from? "Who supplies them?", questioned one commenter. Another warned that returning the 100 dollars would not solve the underlying issue and called for an investigation into "the supplying source" and a potential circulation chain of the fake bills.
It would not be the first recent incident of this type in Ciego de Ávila. At the end of July, another establishment in the province alerted about a young man who attempted to pay with a bill that mimicked U.S. currency, but was actually prop money intended for theatrical or audiovisual productions. The note could be mistaken for real money if not closely examined, especially during quick transactions.
The problem is not limited to Ciego de Ávila. In January, a young woman was caught attempting to pay with a counterfeit $100 bill at a café in Unión de Reyes, Matanzas. Upon being searched, authorities found another 16 bills of the same denomination, all counterfeit, bringing the total amount of counterfeit money she had to $1,700.
Meanwhile, this same August, two young men were detained in Guantánamo after allegedly attempting to pay with a counterfeit 2,000 peso bill.
In light of such frauds, it is advisable to check the security features of 100-dollar bills, including the 3D blue stripe, the watermark of Benjamin Franklin, the security thread, and the color-changing ink when tilting the bill.
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