Consumer complaint received 2018-01-23
Company: WESTERN UNION COMPANY, THE
State: PR
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: International money transfer
Issue: Fraud or scam

Complaint:
I was contacted by someone on the dating site XXXX, with whom I established communication on a regular basis. The profile of the person I was chatting with resulted to be a fake profile, with the sole purpose of scamming money from site users. I was initially asked for money to help a sick relative, then I was asked to subsidize a trip to meet me. Since I was emotionally involved I did not immediately realize what was taking place. First, the money that was requested of me was in smaller amounts, then the amounts increased. The company that the scammers asked me to use for the transfers was Western Union, and XXXX XXXX on one occasion. When I went to make the transfers, Western Union never questioned who I was sending these transfers to, even though they were being sent to XXXX, and they had just settled with the Federal Trade Commission and The Department of Justice a class action suit for ignoring the fact that many of their clients were being scammed using their services, precisely sending money to XXXX. I, personally, was not aware that XXXX is one of the countries well-known for fraudulent money transfer scams. Only on one occasion I was asked who I was sending the money to and a second employee indicated that I should just say a friend I knew. Western Union was sued and lost a case in which not only did they have to compensate all the clients included in the class action, but they were supposed to put in place measures which would prevent frauds like mine from continuing to occur. I contacted Western Union 's Customer Service and spoke with XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX XXXX, to whom I gave all my MTCN 's ( Money Transfer Confirmation Numbers ). I was accompanied when I made this phone call. I was given a fraud complaint number but was told that Western Union could not give me my money back, because the money had already been sent. The number I was given on XX/XX/XXXX was XXXX. I then sent an e-mail to Western Union asking to speak with their compliance department, to which I received a response from XXXX XXXX XXXX ), with a phone number which I should call. Today, the XXXX of XXXX I spoke with XXXX XXXX operator XXXX XXXX around XXXX XXXX and he told me that there was no evidence of my fraud complaint, and that the number that was assigned to me belonged to another person. The total amount that I lost on the ten transfers which I made through Western Union was {$5500.00}. The eleventh transfer for {$2000.00} did not go through because a Western Union operator alerted me to the scam. The following transfers were made : XX/XX/XXXXXXXX {$350.00} confirmation number- XXXX. XX/XX/XXXX {$150.00} confirmation number- XXXX.XX/XX/XXXXXXXX {$200.00} confirmation number- XXXX. XX/XX/XXXX{$500.00} confirmation number- XXXX. XXXX XXXX XXXX {$960.00} confirmation number- XXXX.XX/XX/XXXX {$910.00} confirmation number- XXXX. XX/XX/XXXX {$270.00} confirmation number- XXXX.XX/XX/XXXX {$150.00} confirmation number- XXXX. XX/XX/XXXX {$1000.00} confirmation number- XXXX.XX/XX/XXXX {$1000.00} confirmation number- XXXX. One additional transfer was made through XXXX XXXX. Said transfer was for {$960.00} on XXXX XXXX 2017. This transfer 's reference number was XXXX. I have not yet contacted XXXX XXXX to alert them of the scam.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation