Under the DPA, Western Union accepted responsibility for criminal conduct including violations of the Bank Secrecy Act and aiding and abetting wire fraud. The company agreed to forfeit $589 million, which is now available to compensate victims of the international wire transfer scam.
The scammers targeted consumers including seniors through multiple scams. One of them is called the “grandparent scam,” in which the fraudster would pretend as the victim’s relative in need of immediate money to avoid personal harm.
Another is called the “lottery or sweepstakes scam,” in which the fraudster would tell the victim that he won a large cash prize but needs money to pay fees such as taxes to claim the prize.
The third type is called the “romance scam,” in which the fraudster would pretend as an online love interest and then ask for money for a visit or other purpose. In each of these scams, the fraudster convinced their victims to send money through Western Union.
According to the DOJ, some of the employees, owners, and operators of Western Union agent location were complicit the scams. The company aided and abetted the wire transfer scam by failing to suspend or terminate complicit agents and allowing them to continue fraud-induced money transfers.
