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Scams in Cuba


Scams in Cuba

A few well established scams exist:
  • Real-looking discount cigars of dubious authenticity being offered by street touts. Quite often though these are indeed genuine articles which have been stolen or collected over a long period of time by cigar workers and are sold at substantial discount on legal and taxed cigars. If you are unable to distinguish genuine cigars then you should only buy from the official cigar dealers. The best people to buy untaxed (illegal but genuine) cigars from tend to be hotel doormen who will not be offended if asked "if they know where you can get cheap cigars" and may lead you to a room in the hotel used for this purpose. If buying untaxed cigars you should not pay more than say CUC 50 for a box of say 25 Esplendidos (around ten times cheaper than taxed cigars a rule of thumb). Be careful that you see the box you are buying open to prove there are in fact cigars in it. Also often stickers are included to allow you to seal the box as if it had been taxed. There is a risk that customs will confiscate these on exit, but for less than 50 cigars it is very unlikely. If carrying more then they should be split between the members of your party. Since the activity of selling untaxed cigars stolen or collection from the factory is illegal and the locals are often very short of money outside the main tourist season it is possible to haggle the prices very low, but since a typical salary for a hotel worker may be the equivalent of USD 20 per month it may seem unfair.
  • "Friendly" locals inviting tourists to bars for a drink (normally a Mojito) or to a restaurant; the tourist will be charged two to three times the normal price, and the spoils split between the establishment and the "friend". In Central Havana area, a running trick is a young local man or couple, in pretext of practising English, to invite tourists to attend a performance by "Buena Vista Social Club" (no, most of the members of BVSC have passed away and the group hasn't performed in Havana for many years) while suggesting to go to a nearby bar for a drink while waiting for the show to start.
  • Short-changing in bars or taxis or giving national pesos (CUP) in change for convertible pesos (CUC). Or, offering to swap 3 CUC or more for a "special edition" 3 peso coin with a picture of Che Guevara (the swap is of a CUC for CUP which is worth about 20 times less). Unfortunately unlike bills, convertible coins are unmarked as such. Get familiarized with the coins as soon as you get them from the bank or CADECA - the ones with a big star or Che Guevara on one side are all national pesos.
  • Water is often sold around tourist areas. Sometimes these bottles have been filled with local tap water and re-sealed (which can be poisonous). You can usually see this tampering on the bottle, but not always, in any case tap water will taste markedly different to bottled water and should be avoided in all cases. If in doubt you should discard the water. In fact, real bottled water (same goes for canned soft drinks) is a luxury even to locals and costs about the same either in national pesos (around 10 CUP) or convertibles (around 0.45 CUC) in stores, local or tourist ones alike - if you get one too cheaply, it's probably too good to be true.
  • Locals offer to swap money at a 'local bank' where the natives can get the best rates and ask you to remain outside whilst they do the deal as your presence would drive the rate up. If you give them your money you will never see them again.
  • Credit cards scams are common and accordingly money should only be withdrawn in reputable hotels or banks. Ideally carry cash with you, USD, EUR and GBP are almost universally accepted (in order of popularity) despite being illegal to spend.
  • In Havana it is important to always be careful when using money. When taking a taxi, ask someone familiar with the system what the approximate fare should be, as many drivers will try to set an artificially high fare before departing. If in doubt, insist that they use the meter. You can almost be sure that any predetermined fare from the airport is at least 5-10 CUC higher than it should be - insist on the meter.
  • Shop assistants have been known not to give change and go on serving the next customer, assuming the tourist will not be able to speak enough Spanish to question the matter. In addition, some ambiguity exists between whether or not published prices are in CUC or CUP, and many vendors will take CUC when CUP is due and pocket the difference without telling you of your mistake. If in doubt, observe what the other customers are doing before making your purchase.
  • Credit card scams are common. Do not let your credit card out of your hands, and watch as the salesperson passes the card in the machine. If anything seems strange, DO NOT SIGN! Merchants in small shops may take your card to an adjacent bank counter and use it to take out a cash advance. Look closely at your receipts, if the receipt indicates 'Venta' and a dollar or CUC amount, this means that is has been passed as a cash advance (which will be kept by the dishonest employees). Credit card facilities are however generally so limited to non-existent in shops that it is customary and more practical to just pay with cash.
  • Often, real products such as rum and cigars may be switched by employees for fake ones which are under the counter or in a storeroom.
  • Jineteros/jineteras are a problem in larger cities, and will try to sell tourists anything, including restaurants, cigars, sex and drugs. Note that this type of solicitation is illegal in Cuba and most will leave you alone if you ignore them or politely say no for fear of police attention. If you do find yourself in a situation with a more relentless jinetero, tell them that you have been in the country for several weeks, that you are a student at the university or that you are from a third-world country (which you could pass as a citizen of if you're white, Brazil usually works since it's a non-Spanish speaking country, I've also tried Russia; Vietnam or Thailand works well if you're Oriental) and they will probably leave you alone. Many rely on tourists who are unfamiliar with the system and comparatively rich, so ideally you should try to make an impression otherwise. Keep in mind that even if a tout scoops only a few CUCs from unsuspecting tourists a day, he or she will probably make as much as a doctor's monthly salary in just a matter of a week or two.

  • The Most Frequently Asked Travel Questions about Cuba


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    Cuba Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.

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