Did you use Western Union to pay a scammer?

Refunds are still available to people who were tricked into wiring money to scammers through Western Union between January 1, 2004 and January 19, 2017. If you didn’t file a claim for a refund yet, you have until July 1, 2022 to file. The refunds are part of a $586 million settlement Western Union reached with the FTC and Department of Justice in 2017 for violating the law when it failed to guard against fraud in its system.

If you got a prefilled claim form in the mail — showing eligible dollar loss amounts, based on the report(s) you filed with Western Union — you can use it to submit your claim. But if you didn’t get a form in the mail, you can file a claim online at westernunionremissionphase2.com. If you have any questions about the claims process or what to do if you disagree with the loss amount printed on the claim form, visit the Frequently Asked Questions on the Western Union Remission Phase 2 website.

Your form must be completed online or postmarked

on or before July 1, 2022.

Avoid refund scams:

• You don’t have to pay to file your claim.
• You don’t need a lawyer to file a claim.
• Don’t pay anyone who contacts you and says they’ll help you file, or help you get your money back.

For more information about eligibility and the claims process go to ftc.gov/wu.

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The purpose of this blog and its comments section is to inform readers about Federal Trade Commission activity, and share information to help them avoid, report, and recover from fraud, scams, and bad business practices. Your thoughts, ideas, and concerns are welcome, and we encourage comments. But keep in mind, this is a moderated blog. We review all comments before they are posted, and we won’t post comments that don’t comply with our commenting policy. We expect commenters to treat each other and the blog writers with respect.

• We won’t post off-topic comments, repeated identical comments, or comments that include sales pitches or promotions.
• We won’t post comments that include vulgar messages, personal attacks by name, or offensive terms that target specific people or groups.
• We won’t post threats, defamatory statements, or suggestions or encouragement of illegal activity.
• We won’t post comments that include personal information, like Social Security numbers, account numbers, home addresses, and email addresses. To file a detailed report about a scam, go to ReportFraud.ftc.gov.

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