Western Union scam?

[Newc]

So I get an email from Western Union saying a Money In Minutes Transaction is ready to roll (allegedly sent by me), and I need to call a toll free number to verify it and let the recipient claim the money.
One problem is, the last time I tried to use Western Union was when I bought the JTX I just sold back in February, but the transaction was denied (exceeded the Daily Transfer Limit on my Debit card, most likely, since I had been out that day shopping), so I sent the guy a Postal MO instead.
Problem #2 - That transaction was through BidPay, and not considered a Western Union Money In Minutes Transfer.

Going to my W.U. account shows no activity and no link for recent activity, just a Check Status function. Checking the status using the Control Number in the email and my name as Sender comes up with No Result.

Searching the site with the Control Number comes up empty, and clicking the Contact Us links do not show the 1-877 number in the email, however, putting the number into a Yahoo search (1-877-989-3268) brings up a Blog featuring "Saint Tracy" in an online chat session sending money to a homeless (but computered) person, and she's trying to send a Money In Minutes thing to the guy, and she gets an error that says the same thing this email I have says.
The Blog appears to be affiliated with Western Union, but I can't say for sure if it is or isn't.
The page also gives no details about the incident, whether Tracy was scammed or if it's a legit program W.U. sponsors or what.

I'm assuming it's a fraud since I have not tried to send anyone money through Western Union since February, and the email does say that if I don't call the number the transaction will be cancelled. However, if it IS a scam and someone has used my name to initiate the transfer, then they might have enough info to call and verify the transaction, and who knows how much the transaction is for??
On the third hand, if it's a scam, then what if I call the scam number and get the scammers posing as Western Union with my Western Union account info and who knows what else to the point that I believe I'm speaking with Western Union?

I know sites are being hacked constantly, and this sort of info is usually the target of those hacks.

Here is where Western Union has a problem:
-I can't verify this is a legitimate message/transaction by searching their site because their search engine doesn't cover this type of transaction.
-I can't call the number even to inquire about the email, because who knows if I'm talkng to Western Union?
-Do I call one of the numbers on the website, and if I do will they direct me to call the number in the email?

[Zerberus]

Re: Western Union scam?

Call a KNOWN WU Service number (from teh Off. Website), tell tehm the Situation, and have them deal with it accordingly....My guess is it´s a scam [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

[Newc]

Re: Western Union scam?

Interestingly, I have just been awakened because of a phone call regarding my credit card. My online access to my CC account has been suspended as part of their fraud protection, and they called my employer looking for me. My employer called me and said they sounded rather urgent about contacting me.

I get the feeling me and my baseball bat are going to make some new friends.

[Cleveland Metal]

Re: Western Union scam?

Keep us posted!

[Budman68]

Re: Western Union scam?

<font color="aqua">wow, what a messed up situation it has become. Good luck Matt, and let us know what happens! </font>

[SeventhSon]

Re: Western Union scam?

I've been id thefted before...it sux big time.

[Newc]

Re: Western Union scam?

Ok, I had this posted but something keeps fucking up the board for me and I get a buncha shit about MySQL not being able to find its ass with both hands and a map, so here goes again:

I just got off the phone with Western Union:
Apparently, one Gregory Davidson in the UK signed up at Western Union.com using my name and phone # and address to initiate a Money In Minutes transfer for $999 (the highest limit a New User can send) using my Chase card that I've worked damn hard to not only acquire but also to build up to a sweet limit while keeping the interest low.
Western Union's fees were $76, so the total charge against my card was $1075, HOWEVER, because Chase Manhattan are just as paranoid about my money as I am, they locked my account and called me and left a message, and then called my employer looking for me.

Thankfully, this twat didn't get my money, but now my credit card has been cancelled while they cut me a new one, which should take about a month to get everything done and my new card in my hand. Luckily my 2 Custom Shops are not due until next year [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/brow.gif[/img]

Hopefully he doesn't have my bank info as well [img]/images/graemlins/brow.gif[/img]

[guitarsjb]

Re: Western Union scam?

That sucks. I hope it all works out OK for you.

[Newc]

Re: Western Union scam?

Ok, got my bank alerted and filed an Initial Fraud Alert with Equifax (who will also forward it to Experian and TransUnion). Any attempts on my account will be rejected [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

I know the guy wasn't dumb enough to use his real name, but part of me hopes he really was that dumb. I'd love to go to England, even if it is just to bash his skull in.

[Newc]

Re: Western Union scam?

And more good news - I now have a new bank account filled with my old money, my recent PayPal transactions made it into the old account just under the wire, and have been transferred to the new account as well, I should be getting my replacement CC in a couple of weeks total time, and a new debit card hopefully by the end of the week.

NOW, they always say "getting there is half the fun" - here's the FUN I had getting there:
I emailed the bank to alert them to this situation, as I said before, and asked if I should take some similar precautions with my bank account and debit card, and the lady (a Senior Account Exec) there said "We will need to cancel your debit card and get your account closed ASAP! Here's my number, call me at the bank". So I call and she goes ahead and kills my debit card, and she gives me the name of someone at the Open Late branch to help me swap my account over, since the main branch (where she was) was about to close, but that she would call ahead for me and let them know I'm on the way and what's what and all that.
So I scurry on down there and have to wait. And wait. And watch the clock inch closer to 5pm while she laughs and visits with a friend.

Finally I get my turn and she tries her best to convince me that she didn't see a reason to close my account and open a new one [img]/images/graemlins/brow.gif[/img]
I explained to her the Western Union thing and told her that the guy that tried to pull this had my name, address, and phone number as verification to initiate the W.U. thing with my CC number, and that Equifax, Chase Manhattan Bank (who know a thing or two about it), Western Union, AND the Senior Bank Exec I spoke to earlier said I should do just that. She still didn't get it, cuz (as she's looking into her magic banker's PC monitor) she didn't "see where he's accessed your account".
I said "nobody saw where he accessed my credit card account until he went to use it" in a sarcastic and slightly irritated voice. I then told her I'd rather go through the hassle of swapping everything over than wake up to find every last dime I've worked for suddenly vanished.

Yet again she protested, to which I replied: "Look, this guy is in the UK, which means while we're here in bed asleep, they're opening for business, and I don't care for the possibility that I might wake up and this guy finds the magic method to drain my bank account".

And AGAIN!!!! The stupid whore doesn't see that as a possibility, and THEN says "maybe the guy just got lucky" [img]/images/graemlins/eek.gif[/img]
I sooooo wanted to shout as loud as I could: "DUUUHHHH Fucknut! Did I NOT just pose the possibility that the guy could get lucky enough to drain my fucking account!?!?!"

Instead I gave her my "you can NOT be that fuckin stupid" glare, which looks a lot like this [img]/images/graemlins/brow.gif[/img] and she says "...but if you want to go ahead and do it that way, we can do that"
[img]/images/graemlins/brow.gif[/img]

Fuckin people, man.

I'm movin to the fuckin Moon [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[Razor]

Re: Western Union scam?

WOW! All I can say good job keeping your wits about you. Good thing your Chase card fraud department was on top of things and locked it down while trying to contact you. Any idea how this leech almost ID thefted you? Makes me want to change all of my passwords, cancel all of my credit cards, change all of my bank accounts, and move to the moon too! That is some scary shit!

[Newc]

Re: Western Union scam?

The only way I can figure is he got it off a site that I shopped at. I don't know if there are legal requirements for sites to disclose when they've been hacked and what data was targetted, but there oughta be.

Then again, I'm wondering if that BidPay incident back in February was a hacked page that was forwarding my CC info to someone else, and just giving me the "Transaction Failed" thing as a ruse (possibly to get you to try another card so they could get even more numbers?)
I'll have to find those emails and see if I was using my CC or my bank info.

I used to go to websites a few years back looking for cracks and serials and such, and there'd be lists upon lists of legit CC numbers and names for just anyone to download. I even once found a program that would generate legit CC numbers for each format - Visa, Discover, MC, etc - though I never used them (too much risk of going to jail for a loooong time on the first offense).

I run SpybotS&D and block all downloads that it asks about, but the thing with commercially-available anti-hack software is that hackers can get it, figure out how to bypass it, and then get around it all day long.

Back when Cookies were just 16k and were used to count how many visitors you had, I had a feeling they'd explode into massive data storage units that could be easily hacked, and sure enough, you look at a Cookie today and it's got more code in it than most websites have in 10 pages.

[Newc]

Re: Western Union scam?

Hmm. Nope, none of the BidPay emails mentioned the specific card (i.e. "account ending in xxxx") like some do, but BidPay's records in my account show it was the debit card.
Then again, debit cards usually have a $350 daily limit (mine does anyway), and a CC limit of $999 is far more tempting than the smaller one, even though the smaller one would have probably gone through without a problem due to my spending habits being literally all over the place.

[LesPaulCustom]

Re: Western Union scam?

[ QUOTE ]
would have probably gone through without a problem due to my spending habits being literally all over the place.

[/ QUOTE ]

<font color="yellow">We've told you to quit buying midget porn on DVD but you wouldn't listen [img]/images/graemlins/refuse.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

Seriously Matt...glad everything worked out...that's scary shit [img]/images/graemlins/eek.gif[/img] </font>

[Newc]

Re: Western Union scam?

This is the closest I've been to "danger" as far as online spending goes, and believe me, I'm taking better care next go 'round, but then again encryption models are dissected the instant they're made available to servers and such, so is there really no "safe shopping" anymore?