To clear up some confusion,
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Where did you say to wire the money too? I am curious about if you put the info as UK and then WU just rattled off the same info you gave them. Scammers do not typically work out of the UK as the UK will extradite to the US where Nigeria, Iran, and others will not so they like to know they will be safe from trouble.
I sent the money to Andrew Roven at the location of Wolverhampton UK. Unfortunately, there are tons of Western Union agent locations in Wolverhampton.
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As for a case against WU for not requiring a receipt, the scammer (just like a regular customer) would not need a copy of the receipt in order to pickup the wire transfer and would simply need the transfer #'s as it would not be convenient for a person waiting for the cash to wait for the receipt to come in the mail.
The scammer (in the guise of the company TNT) actually requested I scan and then email the WU receipt to him to complete the transfer. WU doesn't require such documentation for pickup, that's why I thought that request was a little odd. Specially b/c of the trouble some may have to go thru to physically scan a document and get it into email.
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As for you not being able to find any info on the scammers name online it may be possible that it is a new name, or it could be possible that other victims did not post their story on any websites.
Actually, I have found victims accounts of this exact same scam, using Craig's list in more than a half dozen cities (there are even 3 or 4 items currently posted that are from this scammer!!!) and the fake escrow service at
http://www.tntengland.com (a hack of the official TNT site at
http://www.tnt.com. In each of the instances i found on line, the service rep at TNT whose name is to be that of the receiver of the WU transfer is different. Nicole Card, Gerard Howell, Anthony Marshall, etc. (check out this link for more
http://www.better-internet-bureau.org/d ... 2/301.htmlAs for attorneys in the family, I've got two-- my father already called me a 'dumb crap' for getting snagged in a scam. He is looking into this not for the reason of 'caring' but more for justice and stopping not only people but organizations from taking advantage of others and the system. He's an old time lawyer, (like Matlock since we're on the TV kick).
Thanks for the advice and encouragement, Shawn, on possibly bringing this angle back to life. I will try my best. Again, what is needed most is for people to come out and tell what they know. I'll leave you with a quote pulled directly from Western Union's web site
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Western Union takes the issue of consumer fraud very seriously. We value the consumers who
use our services and know that they work hard for their money. When consumers lose by
becoming victims of fraud, we feel like we lose too. That’s why we’re working to create greater
awareness of the various types of consumer fraud.