ATLANTA (WTXL) - Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr is alerting Georgians victimized by a scam involving Western Union's money transfer system that they have until May 31, 2018, to file claims.
The claims can be filed by consumers who lost money to scammers who told them to pay via Western Union’s money transfer system between January 1, 2004, and January 19, 2017.
Affected consumers should go to FTC.gov/WU to file claims, learn more or get updates on the claims process.
Filing a claim is free. So consumers should not pay anyone to file a claim on their behalf. No one associated with the claims process will ever call to ask for consumers’ bank account or credit card number.
Carr said his office's Consumer Protection Unit will continue to fight back against scammers on behalf of Georgia consumers. "We are glad to see that money from this settlement will now be rightfully returned to those affected," he said.
The refund program follows a settlement with Western Union, which in January 2017 agreed to pay $586 million to resolve charges brought by the Federal Trade Commissions and the U. S. Department of Justice.
The FTC alleged that fraudsters used Western Union’s money transfer system to get payments from their victims.
The FTC said Western Union was aware of the problem and received hundreds of thousands of complaints about fraud-induced money transfers made for fraudulent lottery and prizes, family emergencies, advance-fee loans, online dating and other scams.
