Consumer complaint received 2015-11-16
Company: MONEYGRAM PAYMENT SYSTEMS WORLDWIDE INC
State: NC
Product: Money transfers
Sub-product: Domestic (US) money transfer
Issue: Fraud or scam

Complaint:
1. When I attempted to sell my truck on XXXX, I was contacted by a scam artist who conned me into depositing a phony check for {$4700.00} into my account with the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX ( XXXX ) with the intent of me taking {$2500.00} as payment for the truck and sending the rest ( {$2200.00} ) via Money Gram to a person who was supposedly going to pick up and deliver the truck to the buyer 's location. Sometime after I sent him the {$2200.00}, XXXX froze my account because the check was a fake. So, not only did I send {$2200.00} to a crook, I am also getting stuck by XXXX with paying the face amount of the check. My complaint is not so much with Wal-Mart, from whom the Money Gram was purchased ; rather, I wish there were a better way for XXXX to keep criminals from using its website to perpetrate theft. And, of course, I am particularly upset with the individual crook, whose real name I may never know. Details follow. 

2. Towards XX/XX/XXXX / XX/XX/2015, I placed an ad on-line on XXXX to sell my truck. I got a text message on XXXX XXXX 2015 from a person identifying himself only as " XXXX. '' The phone number from which the text appears to originate is XXXX ( XXXX ) XXXX. XXXX asked how much I was selling the vehicle for. I texted him back a price of {$2500.00}. We had various texts back and forth and eventually agreed on the following terms : XXXX would send me a check for {$4700.00}. I would deposit that check into my bank account and take {$2500.00} as payment for the truck. He said that I should take what was left from the check after extracting my payment to WalMart and use XXXX to wire the money ( {$2200.00} ) to his mover, " XXXX XXXX, '' who supposedly resided at the following address : XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX, XXXX XXXX. XXXX was supposed to pick the truck up and deliver it to XXXX. I discovered that WalMart did not have any XXXX XXXX business, so we agreed that I could use a WalMart Money Gram to send the funds. 

3. On XXXX XXXX 2015, I purchased the Money Gram at the WalMart at XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, WalMart XXXX # XXXXMoney Gram Reference Order # : XXXXThe funds were sent via Money Gram to a WalMart in XXXX, the same day. No further information concerning the recipient WalMart store. 

4. After I sent the funds, I asked XXXX when the truck would be picked up. On XXXX XXXX he sent me a text telling me he 'd let me know. That 's the last I heard from him. 

5. On Friday XXXX XXXX, I attempted to use my XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX ( XXXX ) XXXX card to buy lunch and it was rejected. I later learned that all my XXXX accounts were frozen & I had a negative balance due to a large, phony check. XXXX said I had to pay the face amount of the phony check. 

6. I reported this incident to the XXXX County Sheriff 's Department and they made a report, but they will not investigate the matter. On XXXX XXXX I reported the fraud to Money Gram, and they said that they would make a report, but they were n't interested in any of the details or in investigating the matter, referring me back to the local police.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation