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Participation from Western Union and Scam-prone websites
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Author:  Spawn [ Fri Feb 13, 2004 4:42 am ]
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Well, for the most part, I've tried to be decent about it as much as possible. But, as I said in my last post in this thread, I've pointed out several times that Western Union DOES have information on their site about scams, even if it's not in the biggest, boldest, flashing letters.

I'm not trying to be an a$$ about it, but when people apparently gloss over what they don't want to admit so they can go on bitching about it, it gets a little annoying and makes me feel like I'm wasting my time here.

That being said, I do want to apologize for having come across as beligerant. It just annoys me, as I've already said, when people gloss over the things that are shown to them. I'm more than willing to help, and I've made several offers to help identify scams, etc. Noone has taken me up on that so far, and that's perfectly fine. Your prerogative, or maybe you just haven't seen any lately. :twisted:

Either way, having pointed out that several sites DO have scam information available, I'm hoping that people will take that into consideration. There is, as has been said many times, only so much any one person, group or company can do to slow the tide. Baiters do what they can, hopefully wasting as much of the scammers time and money as possible. Scam victims are easily capable of talking to people and explaining what happened to them. Businesses can help by offering information. But, even if we all were to perform at our highest capacity, there would still be people that are so trusting, so naive, so willing, so gullible, so... whatever, that even with warnings pasted in front of their face, they'll still fall for the scam.

Spawn
Author:  txbelle [ Fri Feb 13, 2004 10:40 am ]
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Many people who get taken by this do not necessarily go to WU's web-site and look up disclaimers before going to their local grocery store (or wherever their closest WU outlet is) to wire the money. The money is not often wired on-line, either. When I was in the midst of my court battle last spring and called WU to try and obtain a duplicate receipt, the CSR I spoke with vehemently stated that EVERY TIME someone is wiring money to Nigeria (or Africa in general) they are "politely questioned" as to whether or not this is from the sale of an item over the internet. IT DOES NOT HAPPEN CONSISTENTLY--no matter WHAT someone sitting in a cubicle wearing a headset has to say about it! We get to hear the stories of people who escape getting scammed too...and, if I remember correctly, I have heard of only ONE who was asked by the WU rep "the question"...many of these people are internet-saavy enough to play with their email and look at things that pertain to them, but don't necessarily research everything they do online. People aren't trying to "gloss over" anything. This is NOT a place for victims to come and say "gosh I'm so stupid"...this is a place where they come to VENT their frustrations...tell their stories to people who have been there and can help guide them through what comes next....its what we do.

Autotrader.com NOW has a warning posted...RacingJunk.com now has a "member to member" policy trying to cut down on the number of people scammed, but we, personally, emailed them repeatedly before they would even acknowledge the scam and post a warning before they came up with this system...others are following suit...so they switched to antiques...and hand-crafted items...and any other product where the warnings are NOT posted.

Again, our number one goal is to educate so this stops happening...but the other side of what we do is to HELP PEOPLE THROUGH THE AFTERMATH. (and, yes, baby, you are being an a$$)

txbelle
Author:  goldie [ Fri Feb 13, 2004 10:52 am ]
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txbelle wrote:
...so they switched to antiques...and hand-crafted items...and any other product where the warnings are NOT posted.
txbelle


One of my 'pet' scammers, who's email I read every night, has been targetting people selling parrots, macaws and other birds of fancy.
If it can be bought and sold, or offered for a fee, then there's the opportunity to run a scam.
Author:  txbelle [ Fri Feb 13, 2004 11:07 am ]
Post subject: 
goldie wrote:
txbelle wrote:
...so they switched to antiques...and hand-crafted items...and any other product where the warnings are NOT posted.
txbelle


One of my 'pet' scammers, who's email I read every night, has been targetting people selling parrots, macaws and other birds of fancy.
If it can be bought and sold, or offered for a fee, then there's the opportunity to run a scam.


Thankyou, goldie. There was a woman where it was dogs...someone with horses, etc. Sadly, this really knows no limits. The banking systems in most other nations do not lend themselves to this quite as well as the American (followed closely by the Canadian from my understanding)...

txbelle
Author:  admin [ Sat Feb 14, 2004 4:47 pm ]
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I hope now that we have gone around and around about this we can all agree that there is no one person, or business, that can totally stop this scam. But if every person or business who does come in contact with it does something we can all make a difference together.

We have made changes already. Every day there are more and more auction or classified websites that are posting warnings where 2 years ago they did not even know about this scam. There are banks that are giving extra training to their tellers on how to spot a counterfeit check. Western Union does have a warning on their website, but I know that I never visited the WU website until after I became a victim, so a "in store" warning would have been more effective in my case. Plus, I have to point out that the WU warning is talking about 419 scams, not the counterfeit cashier's check scam . . .

Code:
Beware of unsolicited letters or emails from a Nigerian or other foreign government official requesting assistance in the transfer of excess funds from a foreign country into your bank account

If you are selling an item on the internet and someone emails you about the item it is not an unsolicited email, and it is not asking for assistance in transferring money.

The thing that gets me with WU is the fact that they have told victims that there is nothing that they can do, that it would cost them too much money to post warning signs at all of their store locations, yet one victim I know received a postcard from WU months after she became a victim advertising that they wire money to Nigeria! Explain that one to me . . . it would cost too much to post a sign warning about sending money to Nigeria, but they have enough money to send out random postcards to tell people that they can use WU to wire money to that same location?!? That is what I am taking about when I say that they could do more than the online warning that they do have listed.
Author:  KarynSolo [ Tue Jul 26, 2005 9:23 pm ]
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Regardless of warnings no matter how hidden or visible, people will choose to believe them or not. I recall an incident last year at a walmart where an elderly lady went in to wire thousands to Nigeria and the young cashier ( Kudos To her) got her manager involved, no matter how much they and the police tried to explain to the woman that it was a scam she was hell bent on sendidng the money. The police had to escort her back to her bank, watch her re deposit the money and have family meet them at the bank. They told the family " WATCH HER". Some people do not want to believe that they are being duped.

That woman thought she won a Lottery
Author:  ximora [ Fri Aug 19, 2005 8:58 pm ]
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Education is the key, but who is it that this education should come from? How would one know if noone says anything to them to educate them? It should be those that are familiar with the schemes to begin with. Western Union knows what's going on and their website does mention it, but, as someone here pointed out, not everyone uses the website and I for one was not educated enough to know about this scheme when I went to Western Union at a local grocery store. No signs were posted and no one there even mentioned a word about being careful about these types of schemes nor was I questioned about the large sum of money being sent over seas. Had they tried to let me know about these schemes, I may have thought twice about sending it. Sometime's education comes with a high price as I learned but those in the financial industry can do more to protect the consumer by better educating them as they have more knowledge of these schemes than anyone else. I'm grateful for sites like this that warn of these schemes and help prevent others from falling victim to these con's. I only wished I had found this site before I became one. But now I take this knowledge and I warn others. Although I believe that the financial institutions can do more, I also know that we cannot depend on them to do so. We have to work together to spread the word about these schemes and to help educate those who are not educated enough to know about them before it's too late for them too. Everyone has to get involved when it come's to letting others know about these terrible schemes. It's a horrible thing when it happens to you and your family. Site's like this one are a start in the right direction to educate everyone about the schemes and frauds that are going on out there. Together we can make a difference. Kudo's to you Scams Victims United!
Author:  davehoff [ Fri Sep 23, 2005 6:48 pm ]
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After contacting several government agencies that never responded to my scam complaint. I decided to do my own investigating so I called Western Union with my MTCN to find out where the money was picked up. I was told they can not give that information without a summons.
Now as far as I am concerned money was payed to transfer the money, I am the sender and I should have this information supplied to me no questions asked. It really makes you wonder if Western Union is aiding these scammers. The only information that Western Union will provide is that the money has been picked up. Why can't Western Union make the information easly available. A package sent via UPS can be tracked with a tracking number telling you when it was sent, where it is going, and when it arrives.Come on Western Union.
Author:  KarynSolo [ Fri Sep 23, 2005 8:20 pm ]
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I am talking about putting a warning disclaimer at each of their pay counters. How many people go to the western union website before walking into the pay center??????

I certainly do not go to the site first so how would I know about the warning?
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