Western Union is a money transfer system. It is very much favoured by online fraudsters as once you have made a payment in Western Union the money is untraceable and no way can you get it back.

Western Union recognise this problem but there’s little they can do as the whole process is designed to allow for easy money transfer as if paying cash. Untraceable.

Western Union do publish guidance on how to avoid scams and stay safe.

They publish a list of Money Transfer Never-Evers as they call them.

These are:-

• Never send money to people you haven’t met in person.
• Never send money to pay for taxes or fees on lottery or prize winnings.
• Never use a test question as an additional security measure to protect your transaction.
• Never provide your banking information to people or businesses you don’t know.
• Never send money in advance to obtain a loan or credit card.
• Never send money for an emergency situation without verifying that it’s a real emergency.
• Never send funds from a cheque in your account until it officially clears—which can take weeks.
• Never send a money transfer to an individual for online purchases.

If you follow those rules then you will be a lot safer using money transactions with Western Union.

There are countless other money transfer businesses of course including TransferWise, Currencies Direct, OFX and Moneygram.

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