ScamVictimsUnited.com

Hello,
I was the victim of what I now know is popular scam during flat rentals.

In short, I moved over to London from Canada and was in a hurry to get a flat. I was in contact with a "landlord" who said they needed a proof of payment from me i.e. receipt of a money transer from me to a "best friend" via Western Union. I made the transfer to my girlfriend and sent them a copy of the recipet to show my "proof of funds." By the time I realized what was really going on, the money had already been picked up by the thief.

Western Union gave me no warning about this scam (which, after investigating, I now know has been going on for months) and they essentially gave my money away to someone who was not the intended reciever. Yes, I did show my reciept to someone, but what if I had dropped my reciept? Does that mean anyone can just pick it up, go into a western union, and collect the money? I believe Western Union's security is seriously flawed. I have been getting more outraged as I continue to deal with the Western Union customer service. In short, they don't care - not their problem.

Has anyone had a similar thing happen to them? Anyone been successful in getting any sort of refund from WU?

ANY information to help me in my case against western union would be really appreciated! Thank you for taking the time to read this!

All the best,
Jeff

Jeff, sorry to hear you were taken in. The only thing I can think of is to file a complaint at http://www.ic3.gov.

I agree Western Union needs to do more to protect their customers.

First off, I am so sorry to hear that you have become a victim of this scam.



Actually, this type of scam, or variations of it, has been going on for years. The scammers always use a money transfer system like MoneyGram or Western Union.




Yes, that is exactly what it means. If they have the correct info on the transfer it does not matter if you said the money was going to London or Green Bay Wisconsin . . . they can pick the money up at ANY Western Union location across the world.




I totally agree with you. This is a HUGE flaw, and if they were required to only allow the money to be picked up in the stated location, it could cut down on the number of these scams.



Not once the money has been picked up . . . according to WU it is out of their hands then.



Please keep us up to date on what happens with your case. My hope is that some day a lawyer will take up a class action against Western Union. The FTC recently held MoneyGram liable for over $18 million because they did little or nothing in scams like this . . . I feel that the FTC should also go after Western Union.

You might want to contact the FTC and also recommend that they go after Western Union as they did MoneyGram (go to my blog - links below - to read posts on the MoneyGram/FTC case)