Western Union will pay more than $500 million for allowing scam victims’ money to be transferred to criminals, according to the government.
The federal government accused Western Union of looking the other way by allowing scammers to use its system to commit significant fraud. Even when faced with clear evidence of the fraud, including 550,000 complaints, according to the FTC, the money kept rolling through.
Western Union agreed to return millions of dollars to customers who used the company to wire money all over the world.
The company now is prohibited from allowing a money transfer if it believes it is fraud.
In a statement, Western Union said it has worked with the FTC to settle the case and has already increased overall compliance funding by more than 200 percent.
Victims of wire fraud scams using Western Union can apply for compensation on the Justice Department's website.
