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We’ve heard that people are getting official-looking emails about the Western Union settlement. The thing to know is that you cannot apply for a refund by email. The scam emails we’ve seen ask for information about your Western Union transaction, along with your name and address. These emails are scams. Don’t respond, don’t give any information.

The only way to apply for a refund from the FTC’s Western Union settlement is to follow these steps:

WU graphic detailing path

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If you have already applied for a refund and you get an email about it, call Gilardi, the claims administrator, at 1-844-319-2124.

If you have not yet applied for a refund and get an email asking you to apply for one by responding to the email, please tell the FTC. And remember, if you want to file a claim to get money back from this settlement, start at FTC.gov/WU, where you’ll also find answers to questions about the settlement and the refund process.

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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.

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  • 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.

We don't edit comments to remove objectionable content, so please ensure that your comment contains none of the above. The comments posted on this blog become part of the public domain. To protect your privacy and the privacy of other people, please do not include personal information. Opinions in comments that appear in this blog belong to the individuals who expressed them. They do not belong to or represent views of the Federal Trade Commission.

Antj555
April 05, 2020
I have been scam
abood98
May 08, 2020
I got an official looking email with the reply email the official western union email and with the reference number and a phone number, can anyone help whether it is a scam or not?
Gennie11
June 26, 2020
I got scammed by sending over 2 thousand dollars threw west union to a company that wasent ligit
eddie307
September 30, 2020
is this westrnunion email transferwestrnunion
Marimba.
November 03, 2020
Ihave recently received a cheque from Western Union.remissions. I am very worried as I don’t know if it is genuine or not. I filed my claim almost three years ago. It seems very strange. I have suffered enough already, and don’t want to go through another ordeal.
FTC Staff
November 03, 2020

In reply to by Marimba.

If you have questions about your check or your claim, please call the administrator at 1-844-319-2124.

DT
March 03, 2021
FYI a little tidbit of information. I needed some more info for the claim. So Western UNion is now charging a fee to get receipts . I filed a couple months ago, After the 21 day wait time they told me they couldn’t go back to that timeframe. Then I told then what I needed it for and they told me to re-send the request form and they charge me a thirty dollar fee only to tell me (after 4 weeks) that they don’t keep records from 2006 anymore. So now I’m ouT $30 and I have no backup proof. What do I do now that this has happened ? Thank u
mjarbonne
March 05, 2021

In reply to by DT

I have been trying to get receipts from Western Union. They refuse to send me what I need. I have also spent a useless $30 and three weeks waiting for absolutely nothing.
Guy Tillman
September 05, 2021
Yes that happens to me in April they got me for $500 . They said I owed them all this money and it involved Walmart Western Union. There hitting ready to put me in jail. I'm 61 yrs old an am having bad chest pains. Can you help me?????
Zbn
December 10, 2021
Hello good Morning. I have received 3 emails informing me that I must send my personal data in order to collect money where I must report and make a claim