Rave Posted December 3, 2014 Share Posted December 3, 2014 Hi all, My Mum seems to have had her email account compromised, and to cut a long story short some scammers have emailed the head of a school she works with in Tanzania claiming to be her, and convinced him to transfer about £1000s worth of development money via Western Union to Uganda. Any way of getting on to WU to get them to refuse the funds? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Banner Posted December 3, 2014 Share Posted December 3, 2014 Phone them PDQ. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Hovis Posted December 3, 2014 Share Posted December 3, 2014 How do I cancel a money transfer? You can cancel or stop a regular money transfer as long as it the receiver hasn't yet picked up the money. This may not be possible on a money order, bill payment or prepaid money transfer. Call one of our customer care centers for help. By Phone For online transaction inquiries0808 234 9168 or +32 (0) 2 639 7103 (available from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.) https://www.westernunion.co.uk/WUCOMWEB/staticMid.do?countryCode=GB&languageCode=en&pagename=helpContactUs&method=load Also: http://www.wikihow.com/Cancel-a-Western-Union-Money-Transfer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rave Posted December 3, 2014 Author Share Posted December 3, 2014 Apparently the money was sent yesterday. If the scammers didn't have the bloke waiting outside the western union office all day then I'll be amazed . Bastards . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bloo Loo Posted December 3, 2014 Share Posted December 3, 2014 Apparently the money was sent yesterday. If the scammers didn't have the bloke waiting outside the western union office all day then I'll be amazed . Bastards . You mean 419 scammers only work in the UK, no-one else has ever heard of them? Q? how did your relative know she was hacked?...was she? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rave Posted December 4, 2014 Author Share Posted December 4, 2014 You mean 419 scammers only work in the UK, no-one else has ever heard of them? Q? how did your relative know she was hacked?...was she? It looks as if the scammers have compromised the Tanzanian Headmaster's account somehow- as my mum found out today that they emailed a colleague of hers, purportedly as him claiming that he needed money as his wife was ill. They're by no means amateurs- by the looks of things they've intercepted an email from my mum, inserted a pretty grammatically correct and properly spelled request for a money transfer to an orphanage in Kampala, and then sent it to him as a JPEG image. So typical scammery, but when educated westerners fall for this sort of thing every day, what hope has a middle aged African headmaster who probably never saw a computer until my mum's school bought him one? It's hugely depressing and upsetting, but there's not much to be done about it except live and learn. I do think that any citizen of a country with a reasonably functioning justice system who is found to be involved in writing or selling on malware/keyloggers/botnets etc. should face at least 5 years hard labour though... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geezer466 Posted December 5, 2014 Share Posted December 5, 2014 On a similiar theme heard last night about one of my neighbours being taken for a £1800 in an Owners Abroad scam..... http://www.theguardian.com/money/2014/aug/23/holiday-book-online-owners-direct-homeaway-scam Goes into the detail on how it happens.. Better informed is better protected....... Think twice and check before using things like this. These scammers are getting ever more inventive.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Banner Posted December 5, 2014 Share Posted December 5, 2014 On a similiar theme heard last night about one of my neighbours being taken for a £1800 in an Owners Abroad scam..... http://www.theguardian.com/money/2014/aug/23/holiday-book-online-owners-direct-homeaway-scam Goes into the detail on how it happens.. Better informed is better protected....... Think twice and check before using things like this. These scammers are getting ever more inventive.... Thanks for that heads-up, I've used that company in the past, not for a few years though. Will be very careful if I use them again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Hovis Posted December 6, 2014 Share Posted December 6, 2014 Interesting read about people who've been banned from using Western Union, so WU are policing the activities and being responsible. I did wonder as it's alwasy WU that comes up in these scams but reading this says they don't turn a blind eye. Apologies in advance for the shameful standard of English; please remember that these are colonials: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:cf7nCQgs1c8J:www.pocketfives.com/f10016/banned-western-union-688603/+&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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