A network of fraudsters continues to deceive Cubans seeking to leave the country by selling fake airline tickets.
The desperation to leave the island becomes untenable and many fall into the hands of unscrupulous people who profit from the needs of others.
One of the most recent cases is that of a family who sold all their property in Cuba to buy tickets to Guyana. The scammers promised seats on an Aruba Airlines flight between Havana and Georgetown. However, the deception would not stop there.
The robbery victims paid $1,400.00 to a suspected private manager. She then sold more plane tickets to other people and made more and more false promises. The trip would include transfers to Uruguay, for example. In addition, after landing in Guyana, a secret passage through Brazil was guaranteed.
Modus operandi
The procedure is repeated again and again; More Cubans are “biting the bait” as desperation to leave the island grows. It turns out that famous “travel agencies” openly advertise their exclusive services. One is to sell tickets and another is to hire managers who would collect the money in Cuba.
However, as expected, these agents were never seen and both agents and customers were defrauded. One of the couples, victims of such a scam, had planned their trip to Uruguay with this alleged travel agent.
The fraud totaled $4,200.00. In order to get this amount of money, they had to sell their house. Now they have no apartment and no plane ticket they longed for.
In order not to fall into such a scam, it is important to check the authenticity of the flight tickets. This can be checked at airports, physical agencies or on the airline's official website.