Many people get scammed by fraudsters whether they are purchasing something online or even transferring funds using Western Union or some other money transfer service. These scams are never linked with the service provider and the service providers like Western Union itself has nothing to do with these scams. Unfortunately, there are people who contact Western Union’s customers through fake emails or text messages pretending to be the officials or employees who try to steal sensitive information.
In this article we will talk about the phishing scams, how to spot fake emails and texts? And what to do if one has encountered such a scam/phishing email?
What are Western Union Phishing Scams?
Phishing emails basically fall in the cyber-attack category which is mostly used by scammers or fraudsters in order to steal user’s date, login credentials or personal financial information. It occurs when you get an email from a person who is pretending to be someone, he is not. In the case of Western Union, you might get an email that possibly has a title or attachment which will move you to open it, for example, some suspicious activity has been noticed in your account etc.
And if you fell for this trick and clicked the link or attachment, you are actually going to give him access to your most sensitive information.
How to spot Fake Western Union emails or text messages?
When you get phishing emails or text messages don’t panic and don’t respond to them immediately. You should watch for the following characteristics of these phishing emails which could be your lifesavers.
- Always Check the domain and email address that is a legit company’s address from which you have received emails a couple of times? If it appears to be suspicious in any way then don’t click on any links or URLs attached.
- Phishing Emails are written very poorly and unprofessionally i.e. misspellings, wrong written expression and incorrect grammar.
- Don’t ever respond to such emails and never give out any personal information. Also keep in mind that Western Union always addresses its customers with their names and not with dear customers.
What to do if you find a scam/phishing email?
If you get any emails that you think are strange or suspicious then keep in mind the following guidelines which are advised by the Western Union:
- Don’t ever open the links or attachments, instead delete them immediately.
- In case you get an email that claims that there is something wrong with your transaction or your account is in danger then never respond to these kinds of emails and get in touch with the Western Union’s customer support in order to check the legitimacy of the email or message.
- Customers are also advised to report such scams to Western Union and can also forward such emails to spoof@westernunion.com.
