Cuban Woman in the U.S. Warns of Scam Attempt: "You Picked the Wrong Person"

A Cuban woman residing in the United States took to social media to expose an attempted scam that started with a comment on one of her videos. Known on TikTok as @cubanita09, she described how someone reached out claiming they wanted to paint a portrait of her. “Yesterday, someone contacted me here, leaving a comment saying they wanted to paint a picture of this beautiful face,” she shared. Initially, she was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt, but the subsequent conversation confirmed it was a scam.

The supposed offer included a payment of $1,000. According to the messages she displayed, the "client" would send this amount, with $300 for the model, while the remainder was supposedly for art supplies. In her account, she directly quoted the alleged scammer: “My client plans to make a $1,000 payment for the muse, with your share being $300, and the rest used for painting materials.” The Cuban woman responded skeptically, questioning the legitimacy: “How much is the check you’ll send me?” and further probed, “And how do I send you the rest?” exposing her suspicion.

She confronted the sender directly: “Now is when you send me my name, my email, you send me a $1,000 check with no funds so that I send you $700 before the bank tells me the check has no funds and you scam me. I understand it all perfectly. You picked the wrong person. When you were coming, I was already going.”

Identifying Multiple Scam Profiles

The woman revealed that the scammer was operating under various social media profiles, such as Sarah Colin, Sara Arte, or Laura Arte. “Look here, these are all the profiles of that person. So stay alert, because it’s always the same method,” she warned. She explained that this technique has also been used to deceive people with excuses like study materials, carpentry jobs, or vehicle promotions. “They’ll send you a $1,000 or $2,000 check for you to take $400 and send the rest. By the time the bank clears the check, you’ve been scammed,” she cautioned.

Community Reactions and Similar Experiences

The warning sparked numerous reactions from other users who claimed to have received similar messages. One follower commented: “They scammed a friend of my son in the same way, supposedly with a masonry job. It was terrible. It was $8,000. The poor guy fell for it, deposited the check in his account, and the money even showed up.” Another user warned: “They tried it with me too. I told them to negotiate with my husband who’s a detective and they immediately stopped writing.”

One user shared that they were contacted to place ads on their car and were also asked to forward money. “That’s to scam the gullible,” she remarked. A woman named Lisy confirmed they attempted the same with her, but she didn’t fall for it. Another person noted they had seen a similar case on TikTok: “This is the second video with this type of information in just two days. My goodness, what shameless people.”

Diverse Scam Tactics Across the Globe

Other users recounted being asked to use their photos or those of their children, and even receiving messages in both English and Spanish. “I got the same message a few days ago and blocked it,” one user said. Another explained: “They wrote saying they were going to paint me with my children. What madness. They don’t know what to invent anymore.”

This scam is just one of several recent cases reported by Cubans on social media. In Brazil, a young woman received a message about a supposed outstanding fee for a postal package, which turned out to be fake. In the U.S., others reported messages about unpaid tolls with fraudulent links designed to steal banking information. In Italy, a Cuban woman reported phone harassment from scammers who knew details of contracts she had recently signed.

The whistleblower concluded her video urging the community to remain vigilant. “This can happen with anything. It’s always the same method. So stay alert, stay sharp, because many people fall for this,” she concluded.