I am sorry to say that even if you have been scammed in the past, there is no such thing as any "compensation" for it. I received this Western Union scam-mail last night, and it claims that as a "beneficiary," I am somehow "entitled" to $1.5 million as "compensation" for being a "scammed victim." Apparently, in an attempt to keep off of the U.S. IRS's radar, I was supposed to pick up $3,500 with each MTCN number, until I had been paid the full amount. Scammers today are well aware that financial institutions have to report any cash received by a U.S. customer, that's $10,000 or more, to the IRS, so they attempt to steer clear of their radar, and any other nation's taxing authorities as well. That's as if the money ever even existed, which it doesn't, the scammers just want to convince a mark that the money is real. Included with the scam-mail was an MTCN, a sender's name, a test question, a test answer, that $3,500 was available for pickup, and all I had to do was send the scammer $75 as an "activation fee." I went to Western Union's website, and indeed, this was a real MTCN which said the money was available. It isn't any longer.
What's new about this is that it got me to play devil's advocate. "Could I scam the scammers and get their money?" I had a nice little fifteen minute chat with John at Western Union's Consumer Fraud Division. He said that no, unless the order specifically indicated that I was the person to pick it up, then I could not receive it, regardless of whether I could quote the sender's name, MTCN, test question and answer, or not, unless I were willing to break some federal regulations in an attempt to obtain it anyway. He also told me that the spam only claimed that $3,500 was supposedly sent, but that it most likely wasn't true at all, and was probably much less, as little as a dollar. He also said it could very well be a stolen MTCN. The scammers, of course, do not know virtually any of the names attached to e-mail addresses they spam, so they do not include any names as to who is supposed to receive the "cash," if there's any at all. He simply took down my information, more about the scam-mail itself, and I said thanks for the help. You can also report these WU scam-mails, complete with full headers, to [email protected] So, if you guys get these Western Union scam-mails, do not ever send the scammers any money. You will always lose it, and you will never get anything in return. Attempting to receive unclaimed money in the U.S. that's not in your name is a federal crime. This entry is linked here, in the upper right hand corner for awhile, and there's a Top Four money scam YouTube video about it located here. Please follow me on Twitter @inscamerated. Thank You! Comments are closed.
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Scams
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AuthorMy name is Gary, and I live in the Midwestern United States. This site is intended to expose the frauds and scams that are so pervasive on the internet, especially today. One hundred per- cent of the e-mails you get that promise you millions are never, ever real. They'll tell you they're "dying," trying to gain your sympathy. They're not dying, they're lying. Click Here for the "Dying" scams. Don't fall for it, and never send them any money, no matter what they tell you. Oh, and good luck hacking this website. It's got a nice strong password on it. Archive
July 2012
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