Consumer complaint received 2017-09-11
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service — Domestic (US) money transfer
Issue: Fraud or scam — 
Company: WESTERN UNION COMPANY, THE (CT)

On XXXX/XXXX/XXXX, I used the Western Union online money transfer service to send {$120.00} to my mother. I used my XXXX XXXX debit card to send the amount, and the fee to send this amount was {$16.00}. So {$130.00} was charged to my account. 

I received an email from XXXX at XXXX ( same day ) documenting the transaction and stating that it is currently being reviewed. At XXXX I received an email from the same sender stating that my transaction is on hold and that I may be contacted for more info before the money is sent to the receiver. 

At XXXX ( same day ) I received an email from XXXX stating that my transaction is on hold under security review. The email requests verification of my identity " with a front-and-back copy of a government issued photo ID ; e.g., passport or drivers license. Please reply to this e-mail ( XXXX ) with a copy of the ID and its translation into English plus the following information : Your current address ; Your city of birth ... '' I called Western Union ( XXXX ) several times asking why this information is required, especially my city of birth, as I am not comfortable providing this information. The first operator ignored my question and simply kept repeating what was in the email. I called a second operator and asked the same questions, but did n't get a direct answer. So I asked to cancel the transaction. She transferred my call to someone in Compliance (  XXXX XXXX XXXX ). 

I asked this third operator why the information above was needed - I mentioned that I am not comfortable providing it since it was never needed in the past to send money online, and that I want to cancel the transaction. Over the phone he said that I would need to fill out a form that he would send in an email in order to cancel the transaction. I got the email shortly afterwards ( at XXXX XXXX ) requesting the following : " To continue processing your request and since your ID copy can not be provided, please supply the following information about you : Full legal name : Gender : Date of Birth : Country and City of Birth : Relationship between you and receiver : Purpose of the transaction : Occupation : Residential Address : Explanation why ID copy can not be provided : If mistake is in the name What is the correct name and how did the mistake occur? 
If mistake is in Destination What is the correct destination and how did the mistake occur? 
Name of the person submitting the letter : '' I expected to fill out a simple form, not another email requesting more identifying information that I was not comfortable giving. I tried WU one more time over the phone ( same day ) explaining the situation -- that I wanted to cancel and was not comfortable providing so much information because it might be a scam. The ( fifth ) operator I talked to said I did not have to worry about a scam but that the reason why the information was needed was because my name is a close match to someone on some type of watch list. The operator said the only way to get the transaction out of hold was to provide the info that the email was requesting. 

I called XXXX XXXX ( same day ) to see if the transaction could be cancelled and refunded, and while the XXXX operator said she would be suspicious of responding with information to the emails I described to her, she said the bank could not do anything since the transaction was valid on their end. They only deal with fraud/scam if the transaction was not initiated by myself. XXXX verified the phone number above was valid for WU, and recommended that I call WU to resolve, which I tried many times already.

My bank account is already charged. Does WU just keep my money indefinitely? 

Transaction tracking number ( MTCN ) is XXXX