Payment Processing Scam:
Western Union, MoneyGram, & Bank Wire Fraud
- Funds wired by Western Union (WU) or MoneyGram are untraceable once they have left the pickup location. This is why scammers love using commercial wire transfer systems. NOTE: As long as the funds have not been picked up at the other end, they can be returned to the sender.
- Funds wired by WU can only be picked up within a certain range of the destination address. For instance, funds sent to London can be picked up at any London WU office, but cannot be picked up at a New York WU office. In order to discover where the funds were picked up, one must request a tracking report from WU.
- Funds wired by MoneyGram can be picked up at any MoneyGram office anywhere in the world. For instance, funds wired to London can be picked up in Amsterdam in The Netherlands or Lagos in Nigeria. In order to discover where the funds were picked up, one must request a tracking report from MoneyGram.
- Funds wired bank-to-bank can be traced but seldom recovered. By the time the victim’s bank contacts the receiving bank the account has been emptied or closed by the scammer account holder.
- Occasionally, a scamployee will be instructed to pick up funds at WU or MoneyGram, then immediately wire those funds back out again, and again the scamployee is operating in the belief that the funds are going to a company office. NOTE: In this instance, the funds are most likely to be arriving from a Buyer Victim who believes he is sending money to an eBay or Classified Ads seller. See Stolen ID and Financial Data in this flow chart.
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