Western Union Fraud

Please refrain from using Western Union for ANY transaction. We recommend meeting with the seller with the title of the car.

SAMPLE FRAUD EMAIL BELOW
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Hello,
If you really like the car but you don't trust an escrow, I have something SAFE and fast for you because I want you to be sure that you will receive the car and I hope we will collaborate in the future too. You will make the $1900 transfer to my location(Leeds, United Kingdom) but not to my name (you will use your best friends name for example George Bush as receiver's name) so you can be sure that I will not pick up the money until you get the car; so you make a deposit at Western Union and you will give me the transfer's details (SENDER'S NAME AND MTCN) so I can check that the deposit was made.
After I verify it I will book a flight and meet you. Only after you will receive the car and check it if it OK, you will have to change the receiver's name of the transfer to my name so I can collect my money. So until you will have the car in your hands the money will be deposited on your best friend's name at Western Union Agency. I think it is better to not inform Western Union that you will change the receivers name in a few days because it is possible they ask you to pay the fees twice (fees that are quite big for such an amount),also when you go to a Western Union office to make the transfer,please don't tell there the reason you send the money because here in this country I must pay some additional taxes when I receive the funds. Please say you send the money to your friends or to your partner.
If you agree with these terms, let me know and I will be more than glad to start and complete the transaction with you. Thank you and I hope that you will have the pleasure to drive this car.
I am waiting your answer ASAP.
Thank you and kindly regards!

Comments

[Mike McNally]

There is a new fraud Western Union is engaging in. It is quite cute and it works like this.

The sender sends money from the U.S. In my particular case it was from the Stop and Shop, Woodbury New York. The sender asks for the "Money Transfer Control Number." The application for the receiver notes this on the form as "Money Transfer Control Number(if available)"

The Western Union agent at the Stop and Shop doesn't have a clue about the "Money Transfer Control Number" but proceeds to get on the phone and after twenty minutes returns and says everything is "kosher" you don't need a Money Transfer Control Number, the person recieving the money just needs to show proper ID.

Well, if you are sending money to Thailand, as in my particualar case, Western Union Thailand won't lift a finger to find the transfer without the number. The transfer sits in Western Unions bank for how long? Perhaps the sender and reciever give up and then what happens to the money?

The transfer is advertised as getting to the sender in hours. It has now been 4 days and nobody has a clue where the funds are because there is no Money Transfer Control Number "(if available)"

In times of recession the fraud just get bigger and bigger. Western Union is such a brand name how could they engage is such scams? I guess I will have to send a letter to Bernie Madoff to get his opinion.

[Gerwin van Loon]

See below example of a Seller (Arno Zeith) of a Saab Cabrio 9.3. This was also a fake Seller!!!

Hello there ,

As you already know I am in England now and the car is also with me in England.
This was my personal car in Germany and I do not need it anymore here because i have liquidated my affairs in Germany.

Here is how we can start this deal together :

~ I do not need NO advance payment done to me until we meet and you see my car and inspect it ! ~

But because i will have to bring the car to you first , i can not put myself on the road until i will have a warranty that will prove me that you are really serious !

~ Here is EXACTLY how I propose you to make a safe deal :

1.You must go to the nearest Western Union service ( this is a cash transfer service - www.westernunion.com ) this service is found inside all bank offices or postal offices .
2.You must deposit 30% of the price of the car ( 3500 euro ) as a warranty of your good intentions !

Note: THIS TRANSFER YOU WILL NOT WIRE TO ME !

~~ Example ~~

Receiver : Your best friend name

Address: Just put England as country and as address

3. You will provide me only Sender name and MTCN number , but the Receiver name you will not give it to me !!

4.After you deposit the money you will receive a receipt ( your Send Money Form - paper copy ) - you must scan it and send it back to me in Jpeg-format. In this way I can make sure that the warranty has been deposited correctly and I will see you don't want to cheat me !

~ I had previous bad experiences that force me to take this kind of methods ~

5.Once I received the scanned receipt from you and i see all is ok , I will IMMEDIATELY bring the car to your location in order to meet in 2 days Max.
6.After i will come to you , you will inspect the car and all its papers.
7.If all is OK, we will have to go at Western Union and cancel the warranty transfer and you give me the Total Amount ( if you do not like my car , you will not purchase it - i will not ask no money ! )

~~~ And our deal ends there ! ~~~

~ It's a very simple and safe deal for both of us !
~ Your big advantage: you can inspect the car before you pay me the money directly and also i will have a little warranty to see and reassure me of your seriousness !

If this is ok for you please call me fast or email me asap !


Here's my phone no. : 0044 703 180 3080 ( Monday to Friday 8AM to 8PM )

I'll wait for your answer.


Yours sincerely,

[Galo Rosas]

Check this one out! They wanted me to send them money in exactly the same way! Now, how do they get to STEAL the electronic transfer?? (it is in spanish but it is exactly the same scheme). BE CAREFUL CAR BUYERS!

senior galo,
para mas seguridad, ud puede cubrir el nombre y solo dar a mi la ficha del deposito con el numero de transferencia y con el nombre suyo para verificarlo en la linea.
espero por ud
gracias
helena

From: galorosas@interiorismo.com.mx
To: h3l3mo@live.com
Subject: Re: Consulta - aviso en Adoos
Date: Thu, 16 Jul 2009 11:55:15 -0500

Hola Helena

Entiendo su desconfianza. Como usted comprendera a mi tambien me gustaria verificar que el automovil existe y que es legal.
Yo le propongo que en lugar del plazo de 3 dias para la revision del auto que usted me ofrece, simplemente maneje usted el coche a la agencia BMW en Durham para una rapida revision en la computadora que no tomara mas de una hora y que por supuesto yo pagaria por adelantado desde Mexico con mi tarjeta de credito. Yo ya he contactado al distribuidor y unicamente necesitamos fijar una fecha para la revision. De ese modo yo podría pagar el auto por anticipado a la compañia de transporte, en las condiciones que la misma compañia fije.

Elvet BMW
Broomside Park
Belmont Industrial Estate
Durham
DH1 1HP
Tel:0845 128 6395

Le envio un cordial saludo y espero sus comentarios.

Galo Rosas

On Jul 16, 2009, at 7:01 AM, Helena Morales wrote:

Senior Galo,
Acerca de la factura y los datos que ud me pide,no se me hace seguro mandarsela por este medio por las falcificaciones.
Con gusto les envio los datos que me pide, pero necesito saber si dispone de una cantidad, 60 000 pesos para enviar los datos que me pide.
He investigado con mis amigos que trabajan en la policia y me recomienderon esto:
En una oficina de correo existe una oficina de western union. en la oficina de western union le dices a la empleado que deseas realisar una transferencia:
al nombre de remitente, la persona que realiza la transferencia, ponga ud sus datos
al nombre de beneficiario, la persona que recibira el dinero pones el nombre de su padre o hermano(qualquier familiar), y con mi direccion que es: Woodhouses Street 21, ciudad: durham, codigo: pa34aa, pais: england, o solo pones el pais england,sin mi direccion, para que yo verifica el deposito de los 60 000 pesos en la linea. y despues que el deposito esta echo, me enviaras las ficha del deposito escaneado y yo lo verifico en la linea. despues que lo verificare, y es todo en orden, ud podria retirar la cantidad depositada sin problemas, y despues seguiremos con el trato.
espero por una respuesta de ud.
gracias
helena

[tanya erica]

how can someone collect the money without prove of id? this is considerate bridge of contact on the western union side of things and they should take on full responsibility instead of saying they are not liable. why make people pay so much transfer fee,if it does not include security of our money. This is fraud within the western union.

[Erika]

Unfortunately I haven't seen this page before. I've got an email about a good deal, to buy a car. I sent €3800 to my fiance, and the cheater collected it. How is it possible? I didn't give her/him the details, she/he didn't know the MTCN number, and the names. How could it happen? And the Western Union doesn't do anything, because in their opinion this is my responsibility. It was the email:

Hello Erika,
Thank you for your reply. As I allready explained , I live in USA and I will go to Liverpool only for this deal.
The car is not far from the airport, but if you don't know Liverpool at all, I can wait for you at the airport.
I could meet you there this weekend, if that is ok for you too, but I have to be sure that you are serious, because I have a long way ...from USA to UK .
So here are my conditions:
I won't ask for any money in advance, but you must reserve the car and I will come only if you are decided to buy it .And as a warranty that you really want to buy the car and that you have the money (in cash) for the car, I require that you arrange a payed deposit on your name , for the price of the car ( 3800 euro). Regarding the deposit, there is a service very fast and easy to use, named Western Union. It is used for sending cash money . All that you have to do is to ask a friend or family to go to Western Union with the cash and to send it to Liverpool, to your name as receiver.
Your friend will be the sender and you will be the receiver in Liverpool.
(I ask you to do this because I want to be 100 % sure that you will be there and you will be ready to buy it because last week I went to Liverpool for nothing. A man from Dublin told me that he wants to meet me and buy it , so I went to Liverpool, but he never came and never answered to my emails .)
After you make the transfer, I want you to send me an email with the scan of the receipt , so I can check with Western Union and if the transfer is ok, I will come to Liverpool to close the deal.
You will verify the documents and test the car and we will make the sale documents. Then we will go to a Western Union office, you will take the money and pay me.
PS: I told you that someone else must be the sender, not you, because some Western Union offices do not give you the money if the receiver is also sender.
Regarding the transfer fees, you will deduce them from the total amount,So that you won't pay nothing more ,just the price that we agreed ( for example 3700 euro+ fees 100 euro= 3800).
This transfer is also good for you because you avoid the risk of a traveling with the money in pocket.
Let me know if this is OK with you as soon as possible , let me know if I should reserve the car for you.

Thank you,
Ann Hand

Don't believe in anybody!!!!!