18/03/2021 – 9:10 PM (GMT-4)
The Central Bank of Cuba warned its customers on Thursday against sending Transfers between Freely Convertible Currency (MLC) cards, on the complaint of several users who have lost money through unsolicited “operations”.
A message from that financial institution on Twitter warns Cubans that when making transfers between cards in freely convertible currencies, whether through an ATM, mobile transfer, or other electronic channel, they must verify. the destination ticket start “only” with 9225 XXXX XXXX XXXX.
Likewise, it underlines that if the operation is done differently – for example, to a map in MLC that starts 9226– Better to abort as the money can be sent to a Cuban peso (CUP) card where the amount is automatically converted to 1×24 conversion.
Dear customer, in order to send transfers between cards in MLC, whether through an ATM, transfer movie or other electronic channel, please note that the destination card number must start with 9225 XXXX XXXX XXXX. Otherwise we recommend that you not doing this continue the operation as the transfer can be sent to a card in CUP and the amount will be converted to this currency at the exchange rate of 1 x 24, “the statement said.
Several internet users reacted indignantly to the announcement because they had fallen victim to these problems, resulting in the loss of money due to the “unsolicited change” of the dollar to Cuban pesos due to a wrong operation.
In this regard, they demanded that the bank provide a automated authorization engine based on rules stopping possible “suspicious” operations based on institutional and popular knowledge; and arming based on these “warning and acknowledgment mechanisms”.
I am self-employed, ITH importer need a 9226 (card) in MLC, I have to do it separately from the one I already had 9225 and now it tells me if I transfer MLC to other than 9225 this is the case in other words is at your own risk and liability? Could you please explain that to me? Asked a client.
“That’s already happened to me, I transferred between cards in MLC and it became CUP, which is a scam: aren’t those the two MLC cards, why did you convert them to CUP, why didn’t you leave them in MLC? ” Said another.
Likewise, one user pointed out the inability to transfer from national currency cards to MLC cards: “If MLC cards take the USD as a reference to convert and deposit in a currency, why can’t I get the use CUP’s card? and transfer money to an MLC account at the rate of 24 CUP for each MLC? And why on the contrary is it possible? “he asked.
“They could post some sort of notice or remove that option. No one is going to sell their dollars for 24 pesos, so it would be good if they removed that option to avoid losses that could be catastrophic,” said another Cuban.
As part of the “order task” or monetary unification Implemented by the Cuban government to lift the impoverished economy, the bank has enabled the option of cards in MLC for purchase in stores where only foreign currency is allowed.
You are in the middle of the deep supply crisis on the island stores are the only moderately stockedThat is why thousands of Cubans with relatives abroad have requested to buy the appropriate cards on it.
However, the transactions are difficult and they are exposing themselves to the loss of their dollars due to shipping errors the resolution of which has not been considered by the island’s financial institutions, which so far, as pointed out by the Twitter notification, it does account to civilians for errors in operations and resulting losses.