Beware of Western Union

[codeking]

90% of all scammers use Western Union. If somebody uses western union, ask for paypal or mail payment.

[saints]

Thanks anyone that uses ebay have also got this warning, can you give us more info on why scammers use it or how they cannot be identified.

[musichound]

Western Union is a scammer's paradise. The purchaser hands over cash to the Western Union agent or transmits a transaction through its web site, and in turn it's wired to the receipient. It is just like handing cash over to a stranger on the street with no guaranty to get anything back in return. Western Union should only be used amounst immediate family members that they know for sure they can trust one another.

[gorcorps]

http://scams.flipshark.com/westernunion.html

Lots of info on why it's bad there. Basically WU has no buyer protection policy, and they also don't need any identification from anybody, just a confirmation number.

[caramelsoul]

I had dealings with a seller whose prefered payment was with Western Union. It seemed dodgy from the start, so i contacted Western Union to report it. Never did hear back from them. They dont sem to give a flying $*%£.

[aredbook]

you should NEVER use WU for any valuable transaction
I als had bad experiences with them

[DD]

I don't think it was ever meant to be used as a payment for goods, simply a way of moving funds between bank accounts etc, in fact on the WU website it says never to use it to send money to peeps you don't know.

Its not WU who give the bad experience - they're just providing a service - but its the users who don't understand how the service works that get sucked into the scam. All WU know is that you've moved £150 from one account to another; they don't know you've been scammed, and if you start trying to claim it back from them (apart from they aren't liable) for all they know you could be trying to scam money out of them.

[Judge]

It is as DD says: Western Union is not intended for general payments. It's for example for sending money to family living overseas: Security FAQ.