A young Cuban woman identified as Betsy Ortega alerted on Instagram that unknown individuals have been impersonating her on social media for months, and that the situation escalated to the point of using photos of her with her mother to fabricate stories about the death of a relative in order to deceive others.
In the most recent video, Betsy shared that a man contacted her to tell her that he had been chatting with someone impersonating her, and he sent screenshots as proof. What shocked her the most was discovering that the imposter had sent that person a photo of her with her mother, accompanied by a fabricated story: that her grandmother had passed away.
"This person even sent her a screenshot with a photo of me and my mom, as if I were talking to her telling her that my grandmother had passed away," Betsy reported.
"You can only imagine what it feels like to see someone using your family photos to deceive others," he added.
The young woman also pointed out that the scammer continues to place her in Cuba during their conversations, even though she no longer lives there, thereby creating a false narrative that persists over time.
"This is no longer just about using my photos; it now involves my mother, my family, and even such sensitive situations as the death of a relative," he emphasized.
Betsy clarified that this is not the first time she has reported such situations, but what has happened now is overwhelming: “I have previously reported similar situations, but this feels out of control.”
In a video released in September, the young woman had already explained the extent of the problem after receiving messages from numerous people with similar experiences, not just in Cuba but throughout Latin America. It was then that she learned the term "perfiliar", used colloquially to describe this type of scam.
"It is used to describe this type of scam, where they use your name, your image, your information, anything to impersonate you in order to defraud mostly older people, and obviously with images of women," Betsy explained.
The practice combines elements of romantic deception and emotional fraud: the scammer creates a fake profile using photos of a real woman, gains the trust of the victim—usually an older person—and then requests money or other forms of assistance.
His final call points to the collective conscience: "The most important thing is not to share what happened to me, but to ensure that the next person doesn't fall for this scam. For you, it might just be a video, but for someone else, it could be the warning they needed."
This type of fraud is part of a broader pattern of documented digital scams in Cuba and the diaspora, which includes the cloning of profiles on Facebook and WhatsApp to solicit transfers from relatives, impersonation of public figures, and the use of artificial intelligence to create false evidence.
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