A Note on Western Union Fraud Warning
There are many people who have been scammed after sending money to a scammer through Western Union.
Western Union has a page that warns about fraud, copied as follows:
The Western Union Money Transfer® service is a great way to send money to people you know and trust. If you need to send money to someone you don’t know well, you may be putting yourself at risk for fraud. Because we care about consumers, Western Union urges you to protect yourself from fraud by considering the following:
If you think you’ve been a victim of fraud, contact us at 1-800-448-1492. |
Lets run through the warnings:
- Never send money to a stranger using a money transfer service.
Beware if the “stranger” says that he can ONLY accept payment by Western Union. All he needs is the MTCN no. that you provide, and he can collect the money anonymously.
Note that the MTCN No. is a number generated by Western Union for the seller to collect the money. It does not contain the seller’s information, and is NOT an ID.
The same warning applies to cash and money order.
- Beware of deals or opportunities that seem too good to be true.
Most scams are “too good to be true”, so that they can attract victims, hit and run fast.
All they want is “fast money transfer”, so they might present a deal that is “urgent!”, “respond fast”, etc.
- Don’t use money transfer services to pay for things like online auction purchases.
This is a warning about using Western Union to pay for auction purchases, such as ebay.
Experienced sellers will never recommend accepting payment via Western Union, especially when dealing with strangers with no previous records.
- Never send money to pay for taxes or fees on foreign lottery winnings.
We have repeated this many times that you “Don’t Pay Money to Get Money!”, especially for lottery winnings.
Either ignore the calls/email, or tell the scammers to “deduct the fees/tax from the winnings and send me the rest”. Just 12 words, and expect to see your winnings without paying a single cent (its a scam ofcourse, so they won’t send any money). They will come up with excuses, so don’t waste your time reading them.
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If scammer says: “Don’t worry about payment by Western Union, I will send you the shipment tracking info”.
1) The shipping info may be fake.
2) If the shipping/tracking info is real, they may intentionally send an empty box, or a box with rubbish to another address (delay tactics, as used in gogochin case)
3) They may also send an empty box to you.
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Last but not least, the above assumes that you are sending money “directly” to the scammer.
There are cases where scammers will use a money mule, i.e. someone who is hired unknowingly for the scam, to help “receive money” via wire transfer. They will then be asked to transfer out the money using Western Union.
Job scam could also be a “fake check” scam, where the scammers will send you a fake check and ask you to send cash to another “person” who is also a scammer.
If you look at the trail, you will be able to tracked the money to the person who has been suckered into the money mule job scam. However, after the money mule wires the money to the scammer via Western Union, the scammer could not be traced.
Scam Victim —–(Wires Money to Bank Account) —–> Money Mule
Money Mule —–(Transfer money via Western Union)—–> Scammer
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NDONG BERNARD BIENVENUE out of Douala cameroon, beware of this criminal with email franceparie@yahoo.fr asking for money via western union
Name: Caroline Deschenes
Address:
Jalan 3/155A, Bukit OUG,
58200 Jalan Klang Lama,
58200 Malaysia.
Rent fee : $900
Deposit fee : (Refundable at the end of Tenancy) $900
She said she needed the money sent for her lawyer to send the keys, my brother then sent her the 1800$ and she continues to respond saying she needs atleast 1 or 2 months rent more. Anyone have any tips on how i can figure this out? I realize its too late to get the money back, however id like to get her back, any tips or help feel free to e-mail me. Thanks Also this is regarding an apartment in edmonton alberta so be careful.
Caroline Deschenes <carolinedes1177@hotmail.com>
someone is dealing with me that there is an opportunity of buying 3 iphones and getting one for free i want to know … if i send money on the name of my friend alright ? the person is saying me to send money on his name and when he first check that the payment is done he is going to send me the phones and then i would change the name from my frnds name to his name ? is it true to do so ?
I know someone who was a victim of fraud. His friend’s emailed seemed to be hacked into; requesting emergency funds in Spain. All seemed good, until a second request was made. The second request was reasonable, and sent. However his senses caused him to question his friend and his friend did not respond accordingly. Yet a greater issue lies with Western Union. I don’t know the standard to become a Western Union sending/receiving agent, but it seems as though the circumstances on the ground depends on the agent. The agent must verify ID, and take other safeguards to ensure that the person who picks-up the money is the right person. Also it seems other security precautions such as CCTV is also up to the agent. The agent may undergo scrutiny, but how about the employees? They seem to be not much help in preventing future frauds. They have a message alert on their agent portal, but whether they use it effectively or use some other means to alert agents of current information such as IDs, names, and other information relating to recent fraud in their area is a good question. This type of information can alert agents in a city or state, who can alert law enforcement who can possibly catch repeat offenders. Western Union has persons to report to their local law enforcement, but many cases involve fraud across state and international lines. It would be easier if WU got the agents to involve law enforcement in their area if their shop was used in a fraud incident. This works it from both sides. I think since the name western union provides a perception of security, legitimacy, and trust to agent; there ought to be some degree of liability. It seems that scammers have targeted some weakness in Western Union’s system; therefore WU should fix that weakness or be held accountable in some cases of fraud when it is found that security is not upheld. Credit card companies and banks seem to do a better job in this regard. You are often reimbursed the fraudulent transaction while they go after the bad guys.
Absolutely true! If a fraud is detected and someone colleted the sent money at an agent of Western Union without being the person you sent it to (and the person who should have received the money can proof that he or she still has the passport or valid ID!), the agent did not do his job properly.
That exactly happened to me. Someone obviously took the money I sent to an agent of Western Union in UK, and it is very likely that the person who took the money DID NOT (as he or she COULD NOT) present the respective passport. This MUST NOT happen!
Western Union can redetect the agent, there are even cameras in the offices of the agents, and Western Union should take these frauds very seriously by supporting the defrauded persons in everything they can – including checking whether the respective agent is still trustworthy!
I met a girl online who said she was from my area but is currently out of state visiting family. We talked via text messaging and emailing for a bit. Eventually she told me her car broke down and can no longer afford to make it back home. I offered her $500 dollars. She could not pick up the money because her driver license was expired so I put down her grandmothers information. The money was picked up by the grandmother but then the girl who I have been talking to blocked me and I never heard from her again. Is there ANYTHING i can do to get my money back or make her pay??
Please get back to me with your opinions and advice. Thank you!
hey bro, what was her “name”???? cuz i had a girl kind of do the same thing… she says her phone is messed up so we text and email… she also told me her car didnt work… she also told me she was out of town visiting her grandmother in florida… she talks to me everyday for like 4 or 5 months saying she loves me blah blah blah… she tells me to send her $200 so she can buy a plane ticket here and i send it, she gives me all this flight info to pick her up, im waiting at airport for like 3 hours, she never shows up… never heard from her again! this happened last night! night before, she gives me fake flight info and lies saying it got canceled… then she says she was scared to tell me the truth cuz i would be mad but i was more mad she lied…