The Justice Department Announces Second Round of Reimbursements for Victims of Western Union Fraud

If you were one of the around 3000 victims of historic fraud facilitated by Western Union, there is good news for you. The Justice Department (DoJ) recently announced that these victims will receive millions of dollars in the latest round of reimbursements. The second distribution of the second phase of the Western Union Remission will compensate the victims from a further $18.5m forfeited to the government by the Colorado-headquartered money transfer business.

Since its inception, the remission fund has distributed over $420m to more than 175,000 victims, with $40m going to over 25,000 victims in the first distribution of the second phase back in 2023. The ultimate goal is to fully compensate all victims for their losses.

The second phase was opened in March 2022 to allow victims who had not filed petitions in the first phase an opportunity to reclaim their money.

Due to the sheer scale of the fraud, the DoJ foresees authorizing more distributions for victims in the months to come.

The scheme originated from a 2017 deferred prosecution agreement, where Western Union accepted responsibility for various criminal acts, including violations of the Bank Secrecy Act and aiding and abetting wire fraud. As part of the agreement, Western Union forfeited $586m to fully reimburse victims for various scams where fraudsters tricked them into sending money via the platform.

The types of scams included the grandparent scam, lottery or sweepstakes scams, and romance scams. Western Union employees were complicit in the fraud, and the company aided and abetted the schemes by failing to take appropriate action against these individuals.

US attorney Gerard M. Karam for the Middle District of Pennsylvania stated, “Western Union allowed fraudsters to carry out schemes against the most vulnerable people in our society, and we are proud to uphold accountability for those involved in these schemes and ensure proper compensation for the harm that victims suffered.”

With the recent announcement of the second round of reimbursements, there is hope for the victims to recover some of their losses and bring justice to those responsible.