What was supposed to be the beginning of an exciting journey to Dubai turned into an absolute nightmare for Yuliet, a young Cuban resident in Spain who was detained at Madrid airport after it was discovered she was wanted in connection with an alleged scam of 200,000 euros that, she claims, she never committed.
The Cuban shared her experience in a video posted on Instagram, where she recounted how she went from being about to board a plane to ending up handcuffed and locked in a cell for nearly 24 hours.
It all started when she presented her passport at airport security. To her surprise, the system displayed an alert, and the agents pulled her aside to verify her information.
"When I passed my passport through the scanner, it showed up red and I was directed to go talk to the guards there. And when I spoke with the guards, who entered my information, they told me: you are wanted." he recalled.
Without understanding what was happening, Yuliet discovered that there was a report related to a scam involving 200,000 euros. As she was explained, someone had opened an online bank account using her identity and had used it to receive and transfer money from a fraud.
"I keep telling myself, they could have called me, they could have given me something, but nothing. Since my name was on the account, who knows where they got my information from," said the young woman, who claimed she had never received any notification regarding the matter.
But the scare didn't end there. The officers proceeded to arrest her and took her to a police station inside the airport, where she had to hand over her belongings and undergo the identification procedure.
"They put the handcuffs on me, like a criminal," she recounted while remembering one of the most unpleasant moments of that experience.
He also recounted how they took photographs of him from the front and the side, as well as recorded his fingerprints.
"They took my photo, just like in the movies. With the number here, the number that is personal. Then from the side, then the other profile," he explained.
Later, she was confined in a cell with only a thin mattress on the floor. Afterwards, she was handcuffed and transferred with other detainees to a police facility outside the airport, where she spent the night in conditions she described as terrible.
"The blankets all smell disgusting; they are blankets that are never washed, that have the food they give you all rotten, all sour, lentils that taste like nothing," he reported.
The young woman stated that she was unable to rest either due to the behavior of some of the women she was sharing the space with.
"Screaming, they didn't behave well, they didn't even let you rest or sleep a wink, it was just horrific," she added.
In the meantime, her mother managed to contact an emergency lawyer to help her resolve the situation.
The next morning, Yuliet was transported again in handcuffs to appear before the judicial authority. There, according to her account, she explained that she did not know any of the individuals involved in the alleged fraud and was ultimately released.
"My lawyer has already arrived, explained things to me, we had the hearing, they asked me a couple of questions, and I said no, that I didn't know anyone, and well, then they released me. I mean, I was in this for 24 hours," he recounted.
The Cuban was able to regain her freedom, although the journey to Dubai was marked by an experience she is unlikely to forget.
What happened highlights the risks of identity theft, a practice through which criminals use someone else's personal data to commit fraud. In Spain, there have been documented cases of fraudulent bank account openings in the name of other individuals, which are then used to receive and transfer money from scams.
Recently, another Cuban, Betsy Ortega, reported that her identity had been impersonated on social media, a different situation, but also related to the misuse of personal data.
Furthermore, another Cuban shared how he fell victim to a scam in Spain and shared his experience to warn others.
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