If You’re Asked to Pay Fees to Collect Lottery or Sweepstakes Winnings, It’s a Scam
28 8월 2012 - 9:30PM
Business Wire
The lottery scam involves scammers contacting people and telling
them they’ve won money or prizes in a sweepstakes or lottery but
need to send money to pay for processing fees or taxes to receive
their winnings. Fraudsters then use money transfer companies to
steal this money.
Many people fall victim to this scam: According to the Federal
Trade Commission’s Consumer Sentinel Network database, prizes,
sweepstakes, and lotteries made up the third highest consumer fraud
complaint category in 2011.
Western Union monitors transactions coming in and out of the
company’s systems looking for those that might be fraudulent. The
company also trains agents and empowers them to ask questions and
refuse transactions when they think scammers are involved.
“We go to great lengths to help protect consumers and our
business from con artists who take advantage of good people and
good services like ours,” said Shelley Bernhardt, Director of
Consumer Protection at Western Union.
For example, in St. James, Jamaica, Western Union recently
closed more than 10 agent locations to conduct thorough systems
reviews and have implemented tighter control measures on money
transfers sent to and from this area, including setting a stricter
transaction limit.
The company has restored service to most of the locations in St.
James, Jamaica and is working on reopening the rest in the coming
weeks.
Continued Bernhardt, “As a leader in global payment services,
Western Union is dedicated to providing consumers fast, reliable
and convenient money transfer services around the world. Our
reputation, our brand, and the trust of consumers and our
stakeholders are irreplaceable assets. Our future success depends
on ensuring that we continue to protect consumers and our global
network, which is why we have a number of programs that proactively
help do just this.”
One such effort is educating consumers. After all, they’re the
first, last, and best line of defense against scammers.
To help people from getting scammed, here are some tips to avoid
the lottery scam:
- Never send money to people or
organizations you don’t know; only send money to people you have
met personally and trust.
- Never send money to pay for taxes or
fees on lottery or prize winnings. Legitimate sweepstakes don’t
require you to pay or buy something to enter or improve your
chances of winning; or to pay taxes or processing fees to get your
prize.
- Don’t play the foreign lottery. It’s
illegal.
- Read the fine print—legitimate offers
clearly disclose the terms and conditions of the promotion,
including the rules, how the entry process works, and your odds of
winning.
- Never provide your banking information
to unknown individuals or businesses.
- Never withdraw or send funds from a
check you deposited into your account until it officially clears,
which can take weeks.
- Be alert. If an offer sounds too good
to be true, it usually is.
- Do your research. Check out the company
that contacted you with a consumer protection agency like the
Better Business Bureau, the Federal Trade Commission, local law
enforcement, or other trusted sources.
If you sent a Western Union Money Transfer® and believe you may
be a victim of fraud, call our Fraud Hotline number at (800)
448-1492.
Information on scams and how to protect yourself is available on
our online Consumer Protection Center:
http://www.westernunion.com/stopfraud.
Additional information on money wiring scams is available from
the Federal Trade Commission at: www.ftc.gov > Consumer
Protection > Money Matters > Scam Watch > Money Wiring
Scams.
About Western Union
The Western Union Company (NYSE: WU) is a leader in global
payment services. Together with its Vigo, Orlandi Valuta, Pago
Facil and Western Union Business Solutions branded payment
services, Western Union provides consumers and businesses with
fast, reliable and convenient ways to send and receive money around
the world, to send payments and to purchase money orders. As of
June 30, 2012, the Western Union, Vigo and Orlandi Valuta branded
services were offered through a combined network of approximately
510,000 agent locations in 200 countries and territories. In 2011,
The Western Union Company completed 226 million
consumer-to-consumer transactions worldwide, moving $81 billion of
principal between consumers, and 425 million business payments. For
more information, visit www.westernunion.com.
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