western union

[tali122]

why is such a large company like western union operating an openly criticised system for fraudsters and scammers- what is exactly are they doing wrong ?- is it illegal practice? dont they care about their reputation?

[Loosehead]

you might as well say why do Ford let armed robbers use their vans or the governemet is aiding and abeting by letteing them getaway on public roads.

Western union is merely a service, in the con I think you are referring to it is not used by the conman it is used by the mark to wire the money back. How could WU possibly know whether it's a legit transaction or not. It is not illegal to send money by electronic transfer, it is illegal to obtain money by deception, WU is the tool the crime is the deception.

[rojash]

Loosehead said it all!

[tali122]

the FORD link is , i feel,highly disengenuous , i am not familiar with the processes but it would appear that other money transfer companies seem to have SECURITY measures in place to avoid this , also,if we agree to your point of view then why don't WU sue the media for millions for malicous falsehood?

[dzug]

Western Union are doing nothing that is either wrong or illegal.

They are transferring money from you to the person you want to send it to.

I woukld suggest that WU don't sue the media because the media are criticising the fraudsters and scamsters and the mugs who fall for them rather than WU.

The Ford analogy is a good one.

[tali122]

remember , several years ago the same excuse was trotted out by car makers with car thefts and mobile companies for phone thefts (i have not said WU are committing the crime)- and what happened ?- the goverment said "no way that excuse wont work -it is your responsibility -sort it out" - so we got cars with alarms , trackers , immobilisers, security VIN plates, mobile phone companies were forced to block stolen phones - why??? - because it was THEIR responsibility

im beginning to think that you lot work for WU

[dzug]

Having now looked at WU's website, they employ exactly the same security measures as other firms in the business eg Post Office Moneygram.

They tell you not to send money to someone you don't know. If you ignore that and get scammed who is to blame?

What exactly do you want them to do?

[bluejonjo]

Such a dumb thread... I think somebody got scammed......

[tali122]

bluejonjo i wasnt abusive to you so shut the f*** up -okay?-idiot

tony hetherington one of the most respected scambusters singles out WU for their lax , fraud encouraging procedures

[stevie21]

I'd also say that of all of the ways of transferring funds overseas, Western Union seem to be the company of choice for fraudsters.
I know nothing of their security procedures so maybe it's just that they're such a prevalent international company that have "branches" in the UK and also in the countries where the scammers want to receive the money (as opposed to our UK banks who don't have branches in Rio).
Maybe it's because their security is less stringent (but I'm not at all convinced of that yet)

[brachiopod]

It's just like the Royal Mail.

I got conned when I stuffed a hundred quid in cash in an envelope and posted it to some scam company so that I could "claim my prize".

How can the Royal Mail get away with this? Making it so easy for scammers and fraudsters. They are almost encouraging it.

[tali122]

"If you had proceeded, you would have been told to pay the money by Western Union transfer. This would allow the fraudsters to collect their money from any Western Union office - virtually untraceable. "

taken from tony hetherington's help column

[brachiopod]

And?

If you are going to fall for a scam, you'll fall for it. Whether you use Western Union or hand an envelope of cash to someone in a pub is up to you - the means of delivery is irrelevant.

Western Union, or any other wireless money transfer of the same nature, is just that - money transfer. Treat it the same way as you would handing over cash. Don't kid yourself that there is some guarantee or insurance for the gullible - there isn't.

In that respect, it works. I could send cash to anyone I choose, anywhere in the world - including the so-called 'third world'. Even someone in Mali or Chad, someone who, perhaps not surprisingly, doesn't have a valid passport, driving license, or council tax / utility bill to bring with them.

I bet there are also plenty of poor little students on their gap years who have been sent money from mummy and daddy via WU after losing all their documentation / cash / possessions etc. Bet they weren't too bothered to find out that the receiving office didn't require proof of ID in triplicate.

[tali122]

its just that WU appears to be THE choice of the fraudster- so anyone such as myself is within their rights surely to simply ask questions about this on curiosity alone