You Are Our Partner. While Western Union works hard to help prevent fraud, we believe that fraud prevention is everyone’s responsibility. Your best defense is to be aware, educate yourself and use good judgment with our informative tips. Don’t fall victim: Learn how to spot the warning signs of a scam or scammer before it’s too late.
Relationship Scam
You meet someone online, develop a relationship with them, then you are asked to send money to them
Internet Purchase Scam
You are asked to send money to pay for a product, auction item or service advertized online
Advanced Fee Scam
You are asked to send money to pay a fee up front for a product or service
Fraud awareness
One of the things that sets us apart from other money transfer businesses is the trust that we build with our consumers. To maintain and enhance this trust, we continue to strengthen our consumer protection compliance efforts. Today, global consumer protection laws and regulations are constantly changing the world in which we operate. With increased regulation comes increased responsibility to develop an adaptable and flexible world-class compliance program that can help us meet or exceed applicable legal and regulatory requirements. In addition, we work harder than ever to educate consumers about fraud so that they can take action to protect themselves. Western Union has invested a tremendous amount of time and resources in developing and continuously improving our consumer protection compliance programs. At Western Union, compliance is not merely a department or set of rules to follow, it is embedded in our culture and a fundamental part of the way we do business.
Think you’ve been scammed?
Report it. You can help us and, in the process, help others from getting scammed in the future.
Forward the suspicious email to spoof@westernunion.com –do not cut and paste the contents, because valuable tracking information about the source will be lost.
Find out moreEmployment scams generally start with a too-good-to-be-true offer—work from home and earn thousands of dollars a month, no experience needed—and end with consumers out of a ‘job’ and out of money. They generally follow one of three patterns:
1. Scammers pose as a new ‘employer’ and send victims a check to cover up-front expenses, like supplies. Victims deposit the check, buy the necessary supplies and wire any remaining funds back to the scammer. Weeks later, they find out the checks are fake and they’re on the hook for the entire amount.
2. Scammers pose as ‘recruiters’ pitching offers of guaranteed employment or as ‘employers’ extending job offers on the condition that victims pay up front for things like credit checks or application or recruitment fees. Victims pay, but job offers never materialize.
3. Scammers pose as ‘company’ representatives and seek sensitive personal and/or financial information from victims under the guise of doing credit or background checks. They then target victims later on for identity theft.
Associated with:
Mystery Shopping scam, Fake Check scam
Article:
3 employment scams and tips to help avoid becoming a victim
Scammers pose as representatives from phony loan companies and use authentic-looking documents, emails, and websites to appear legitimate. They charge “fees” in advance of making loans. Consumers pay, but the loans never come through. Scammers are long gone and they sometimes regularly change the name of their “businesses” to avoid law enforcement.
This is one variation of a scam called the “advance fee” or “prepayment” scam. Scammers can also lure victims in with promises of investments or inheritance gifts in exchange for a fee. But it all comes down to the same theme: Victims pay money to someone in anticipation of receiving something of greater value and then receive little or nothing in return.
Associated with:
Fake Check scam, Grandparent scam
Articles:
4 ways to protect yourself against advanced fee and prepayment scams, Study Up on Student Scams
In the internet purchase scam, criminals prey on victims who bid on items using an online auction website or service. It generally plays out in one of two ways:
1. Victims win the bid, which is likely a sham or set up, and are told the seller only accepts money transfers for payment. The seller tells the buyer to put the transaction in a fictitious name, or the name of a loved one. Scammers convince victims this protects their money until the goods or services are received. The seller then creates a false ID in the fictitious name and retrieves the funds. The merchandise never arrives.
2. The other variation is when the original auction is legitimate but the victims don’t win the bid. They’re contacted later on by another party offering to sell them the same item under similar terms and instructed to wire the money as payment. The money is sent but the buyer never receives the goods.
Associated with:
Overpayment scam, Rental Property scam, Fake Check scam
Article:
Fraud alert: Internet puppy purchase scams rising, Tips to protect yourself from online shopping scams this holiday season, Defend yourself from COVID-19 consumer scams
Emergency scams play off of peoples’ emotions and strong desire to help others in need. Scammers impersonate their victims and make up an urgent situation—I’ve been arrested, I’ve been mugged, I’m in the hospital—and target friends and family with urgent pleas for help, and money.
Emergency scams also come in all shapes and sizes. There’s the Grandparent Scam where con artists contact the elderly claiming to be their grandchild, urgently asking for money. And the Social Networking Scam where con artists hack into social networking accounts and then target friends with frantic requests for money, claiming injury, arrest, etc.; they do the same by hacking email accounts. They use the information in these accounts to supply enough personal detail to make their requests appear legitimate.
Lottery or prize scams follow two similar patterns:
1. A victim gets an unsolicited phone call, email, letter or fax from someone claiming to work for a government agency or representing a well-known organization or celebrity, notifying them that they’ve won a lot of money or a prize. The scammer gains their trust and explains that, in order to collect the winnings, they first have to send a small sum of money to pay for processing fees or taxes. Following these instructions, victims immediately wire the money, but never get their “winnings.” And they’re out the money they paid for “fees and taxes.”
2. Victims get an unsolicited check or money order and directions to deposit the money, and immediately wire a portion of it back to cover processing fees or taxes. Weeks later, victims learn that the checks are counterfeit, but have already wired the money to cover the “taxes” and can’t get it back. And they’re on the hook to pay their banks back for any money they withdrew.
Associated with:
Advanced Fee / Prepayment scam, Fake Check scam
Articles:
7 tips to avoid lottery scams , Scratch and Win Lottery Scams, Avoid falling for sweepstakes scams
The relationship scam starts simply: A man and woman meet on the Internet. The relationship progresses: They email, talk on the phone, and trade pictures. And, finally, they make plans to meet, and even to get married. As the relationship gets stronger, things start to change. The man asks the woman to wire him money; he needs bus fare to visit a sick uncle. The first wire transfer is small but the requests keep coming and growing—his daughter needs emergency surgery, he needs airfare to come for a visit, etc. The payback promises are empty; the money’s gone, and so is he.
Fake checks play a starring role in lots of different scams: advance fee or prepayment scams; mystery shopping scams; lottery prize scams, and more. Victims get an unsolicited check or money order and directions to deposit the money and immediately wire a portion of it back to cover various expenses, like processing fees or taxes. Weeks later, victims learn that the checks are counterfeit, but they’ve already wired the money and can’t get it back. And they’re on the hook to pay their banks back for any money they withdrew.
Learn more about the tricks fraudsters use to lure in victims.
Test your fraud knowledge now
Smart people fall for scams every day. Test your knowledge of money transfer fraud and learn how to protect yourself.
Test your fraud knowledge now
Smart people fall for scams every day. Test your knowledge of money transfer fraud and learn how to protect yourself.
You work hard for your money and you want a company you can rely on when it comes to sending your money to friends and family. That’s why we want to help you protect yourself from fraud.