Wire transfer, unlike online bank transfers is more approachable and their services are easy to obtain. It is also notable that you can easily send and receive money in your country, if not internationally, the easy way. Wire Transfer facilities such as Western Union and MoneyGram are only two of those. However, the fact remains that most wire transfer services nowadays are easily compromised and are used by online thieves in their scamming strategies.
Many people are now asking: How do thieves use Western Union in scamming other people? If you’re interested to know, here are some scamming strategies:
- By using Buy-and-Sell Strategy. Many people are fooled into sending money via Western Union due to the fact that they want to buy some items that scammers have promised them. Whether it is gadgets or jewelry they are selling, always keep in your mind that whenever those people asks you to send them money via Western Union, think again.
- Heart-to-Heart talk Strategy. This scam is way much easier to do and is more common especially online. It usually works when the scammer or online thief pretends to be somebody and then looks for a gullible victim. Maybe for a week-long chat, he or she then confesses to be ‘in love’ with that person and then wishes to see him personally. If that person is gullible enough for him or her to entice, he or she then somehow asks him or her for money, which must be sent via Western Union or any wire transfer service that is available to their location.
Due to the fact that some places aren’t that strict compared to others, some Western Union Branches only require their customers to present a valid company or government ID which can be easily forged nowadays. So if you happen to be a victim of an online thief or scammer, don’t expect that you can get your money back if it was sent in this way.