Consumer complaint received 2018-02-12
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service — International money transfer
Issue: Fraud or scam — 
Company: MONEYGRAM PAYMENT SYSTEMS WORLDWIDE INC (CT)

On XX/XX/18, I was the victim of a " virtual kidnapping '' fraud scam. A caller told me my father was in a car accident, which had seriously injured a child family member of violent criminals, and had resulted in a confrontation that led to my father being kidnapped. The caller was able to produce personal information about me and my father and, positioning himself as a reluctant but influential member of the violent criminal gang, was offering to broker a release for my father from his alleged kidnapping for {$3000.00}. He threatened that my father would most likely be killed, and that only through the caller 's intervention was my father 's life being spared. He threatened my father 's XXXX  unless I paid {$3000.00}, or if I hung up the phone, or if I made any attempt to contact my father. The caller advised me to make an international money transfer to his family-member in XXXX XXXX using XXXX XXXX, which had security protocols to prevent such a transfer ( by requiring me to call their XXXX number before finishing the transfer, which discouraged the caller from pursuing this option ). 

The caller then asked me to make multiple transfers through MoneyGram, and I made four transfers ( the transactions : {$910.00} : Reference # XXXX at XXXX to XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX ; # XXXX at XXXX to XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX , which the caller reported had failed ; {$910.00} : # XXXX at XXXX to XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX ; {$890.00} : # XXXX at XXXX to XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX ) . At this point, the caller continued to ask for more money and to make additional threats, changing the scenario he had presented earlier. I risked contacting my family and realized that my father was safe. I hung up on the caller, who then sent me a threatening text message. 

I filed a police report with my local police department and went to my bank to see if it was possible to prevent the transactions or recover the funds. The banker called MoneyGram 's customer service associate, who told me and the banker that it was not possible to recover three of the four transactions but that the second failed transaction would be refunded to my debit card. The purpose of this complaint is that the promised refund for the second transaction has not happened despite the passage of 96 hours since my call with MoneyGram 's service associate. In addition, I have now learned that this is a common scam. I would recommend that MoneyGram implement security protocols so that it is not abetting fraudulent victimization of customers in the future. As I reflect from my experience, I would imagine that such protocols could include subjecting transactions to a confirmation with MoneyGram 's call center ( similar to what XXXX XXXX successfully implemented in this case ) if they are international transfers to a location known to host such scams, if they are sent by first-time senders, and if meeting these considerations are at a transaction amount slightly below {$1000.00} and especially if repeat transactions, it would be helpful to consumers and helpful to the rule of law for MoneyGram to invoke some kind of protective measure.