do i trust westernunion money transfer e mail saying i am being sent a large amount of money if i pay the fee?

Question

western union (supposidly)also contacted us on yahoo messenger is is really adamate about us sending the transfer fee immediatly,when i told him our representative wouldnt recommend us doing that to an individual,he recomended us sending it to money gram(?). they really are using WU logo's though.What do I do?

Answer 1

I think this is an attempt of "Advance fee fraud" or "Nigerian Check Fraud" which is also known as "419 fraud".

Ask yourself these questions:
1. Do you deserve to get this money. i.e. do you earn it. (is this money for a payment of your item or service. even if it is yes you still have to be careful and verify before you give them any money or refund)
2. If you are on their side, will you do the same thing (give money away for a small fee)
3. Why would they want to give you free money?
4. Does it sound to good to be true?

Please read the detail here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/419_fraud

Another examples (website explaining this fraud):
http://www.scambusters.org/NigerianFee.html
Nigeria Email Scams - Nigerian Advance Fee 419 Fraud advanced fee
http://www.crimes-of-persuasion.com/Crimes/Business/nigerian.htm
For example, they may give you a check for $85000 and ask you to send them just $4000

And a good rule of thumb:
If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

But if the fee (the money they asked) is small enough, and you want to gamble and possibly learn the hard way then I would say go ahead and try it. worst case is that you will remember this experience and won't fall to another trick like this again. Just make sure you don't give these people any of your personal/financial information.

IMHO however, it has the word F R A U D written all over it..

Answer 2

If you've filled in a "claims form" then god help you. Even from just the basic information such as your name and date of birth, I would be able to go out and order your birth certificate and from there probably get a passport or loan in your name and generally have a great deal of fun. If you were stupid enough to send me your bank account details, I'd probably then have a go at emptying it as well and send you completely to the poor-house. Maybe you'll get lucky this time, but honestly, what were you thinking? Companies don't randomly hand out huge sums of money to random individuals. If they did, they'd go bust. To win any kind of prize involves actually buying a ticket. You won't win anything at all for doing nothing. Think long and hard now about exactly what information you filled in on that form. Is any of it potentially compromising? If so, then start thinking about contacting your bank and changing your acount details.

Answer 3

This is most likely a scam.

People who want to defraud you will use the names of organizations and persons whom they think you trust.

* The President of the United States of America is setting up a Citizen's Advisory Board & your name has been drawn from a lottery based on listings in the phone book ... your participation is desired ... you just have to pay this small registration fee.
* Microsoft is using e-mail forwarding to get a directory of 10 million names & you are a record # on that list, so you will be awarded a huge sum of money, buy you have to pay a small registration fee
* Someone wants to buy something of yours & here is this huge check, but you have to apy a small finder's fee

It is all a scam. The purpose of which is you pay small sum of money out of your bank account, from which they weill know your bank account, and do other transactions that will clean it out ... if there's any money to you, the bank will find out that is fraudulent ... it gets partially deposited, then withdrawn & you get fined various charges for defrauding the bank.

This kind of scam can be sent to www.knujon.com after you register there, so that the proper authorities can be informed, such as the Secret Service, but personally, I seriously doubt the authorities are interested ... when there are thousands of e-pick-pockets crooks out there with millions of people like you who fall for the exact same e-scam.

Alternatively if you want to play this stupid game, at least open a separate bank account to receive the play money, so the separate bank account gets frozen and not your whole world.

Answer 4

No no it is most likely a scam! These are usually a big scam, I do not believe they would contact you via your messenger. Are you doing business with them? Do you know someone who is doing business with them? Do not click on any links they might provide. Go instead to their website and send them an email and ask them if they had contacted you concerning a money transfer. If it is to good to be true then it usually is not true. Again, be very careful of scams and phishing attempts! Good luck :)

Answer 5

How did they get your email address? Does the whole thing sound too good to be true?

It's a scam. Stop opening unsolicited email from unkown persons. You will never find anything of any value in the spam. Either they're trying to trick you out of money or get your personal info. Some just have virus to infect your computer.

Answer 6

It is a scam anyone offering money that asks for a fee, your bank or credit card details or takes you to a site to enter usernames or passwords is 99%scam stuff if in doubt ring the company from a number in you local phone book not off the email or message. cheers

Answer 7

Do like I did. Tell them to deduct the fee from your prize money and to send you a cashiers check for the rest. It's a scam.

Answer 8

No. How would Western Union get your Yahoo messenger address?!?!?!?!? This is a friend playing a prank, or some kind of scam.

Answer 9

Boy , those scam sharks really know how to find folks !

Who do you know that is sending you all that $$$ ?
Did your rich uncle call to say he's sending it ?
If he was , he would pay the fee . . . NOT the receiver .

Got to give those sharks credit !

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Answer 10

NO Spartawo...