Scammer from Britain

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Hello I'm New here! Joined: 22 Jun 2013 Posts: 8

Hi,
I stared getting the telephone calls from Ghana.I said the money could not be sent to Ghana by Moneygram or WU as they required ID for the person who I was sending. I then got an address in London for the person to collect the money .The scammer has accomplices in the UK. I wonder is it any use to report the address the name is obviously a fake. The test answer and question must be all that is required seems unlikely.

Any Ideas ,
Atkin

Baiting Guru Joined: 17 Sep 2006 Posts: 5905

Check the address given, it usually belongs to some random business they have decided to use. If however it looks like a genuine residential address and you can link the name (probably not if you believe it to be fake) to an address through a phonebook/google search (etc) send the information on to a Mod (the people who show up with a green name). It could be a money mule who is unknowingly laundering money for a lad, they will pass it on to the good people at Scamwarners who will take necessary steps to investigate the matter and if needed contact the mule or law enforcement if necessary.

Posted: Tue Jul 30, 2013 4:24 am

atkin12 wrote:

The test answer and question must be all that is required seems unlikely.

As far as I know, this is exactly how WU operates: you can pick money in a country other than specified. But I'm not 100 % sure here, having never used their services in reality.

You could try asking this person's phone number for further verification. If you get a redirected 070 (starting with +4470) number, then chances are that this person is somewhere completely else.

But it might be a mule too. Worth investigating.

Baiting Guru Joined: 17 Sep 2006 Posts: 5905

^^^^

The rules of WU seem to change from country to country. From what I have seen in the UK ID is required to pick up money even if you know the test question and answer. Which begs the question what is the point of having one?

The rules regarding picking up are a lot stricter in the UK & US and probably Western Europe but I can't say for sure than they are in Africa where it seems little evidence is needed to pick up and minor errors to receiver details can be overlooked, possibly at a price.

Posted: Tue Jul 30, 2013 7:54 am

atkin12 wrote:

Hi,
I stared getting the telephone calls from Ghana.I said the money could not be sent to Ghana by Moneygram or WU as they required ID for the person who I was sending. I then got an address in London for the person to collect the money .The scammer has accomplices in the UK.

I don't think the address matters one bit.

I once had a bait going where someone claimed to be a radio ham Alexandre Barski in Canada

http://forum.419eater.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=230851

The scammer asked me to put the name as Eti Wohl at some Canadian address for the Western Union transaction. But I told him I put the name Alexandre Barski at the address listed for that radio ham on qrz.com.

The scammer was obviously annoyed I did not follow his instructions, but insisted I changed the name, although he was not bothered about the address. So if I'm not mistaken, any random address can be used. Your scammer does not need an accomplice in the UK at all - he just has gave you that address

wasname.

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 22 Jun 2013 Posts: 8

Hi ,
Thanks for the replies.
I know that in Thailand ,Philippines and China ID is required with the control number .The WU website does say that ID is required to pickup no mention of the test question and answer.
I complained to him that WU required proof of who I was sending the money too.
The lad then changed the name made up from my fake one and told me to say it was my brother.The address given was in London.
I think from your replies and my own feeling there is only the test question / answer and MTCN to collect in Ghana.

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 25 Jul 2013 Posts: 18

From the WU website:

Quote:

The "Test Question" feature in the Western Union Money Transfer® service is designed for emergency situations where the receiver does not have proper identification (e.g. his or her wallet and identification have been stolen).*

* In addition to identification, a test question may be required by a few countries in order to process a transaction. Check with your Western Union® Agent location to be sure of the requirements in your receiver's country.

This is interesting:

Quote:

Although it may be legal to gamble in the country where the Internet casino or sports betting company is located, it is illegal to place a bet, communicate information or transfer money in connection with a bet, from many places (...). Accordingly, Western Union has decided, as a matter of policy, that it will not permit its Internet service to be used, directly or indirectly, in connection with Internet gambling activities.

So Gambling is a big no-no but internet scams are ok... I have no respect for WU and MG -- they are accomplice to the scams. They know damn well what's going on in Nigeria and Ghana.

Posted: Sun Aug 04, 2013 2:18 pm

Quote:

I have no respect for WU and MG -- they are accomplice to the scams. They know damn well what's going on in Nigeria and Ghana.

WU and MG provide a legitimate money transfer service used by millions of expatriate Africans/Asians to repatriate money back to their homelands. Lads abuse that service, that does not make either company complicit in the fraud.

Posted: Sun Aug 04, 2013 4:39 pm

One of my lads got pretty annoyed when I told him that I had not included the Q&A as "WU told me" it was not necessary if the person picking up the money could identify himself with proper ID.

Posted: Mon Aug 05, 2013 3:32 pm

Rev. Dr. Barr. U. Fail wrote:

....So Gambling is a big no-no but internet scams are ok...

This relates mostly to laws on internet gambling, and extremely strict enforcement thereof, in the USA where Western Union is based. For the same reasons most betting sites are extremely specific about saying that they will not accept members from the USA. So this is more about the US government's enforcement of certain kinds of laws, rather than a decision by Western Union to turn a blind eye to the use of their services by fraudsters.

Baiting Guru Joined: 27 Mar 2011 Posts: 21158

FWP-149 wrote:

One of my lads got pretty annoyed when I told him that I had not included the Q&A as "WU told me" it was not necessary if the person picking up the money could identify himself with proper ID.

That is beautiful! I am stashing it for rainy days.