What to do if you’ve Lost Money in a Moneygram Scam
February 10th, 2010. By AbiK
Many of you have written in about Moneygram scams. Unfortunately, in the aftermath of Moneygram’s court order to cough up $18 million to the FTC to settle charges of consumer fraud, we’re still receiving numerous accounts from readers who’ve been on the receiving end of a Moneygram scam and who are asking what they should do.
For background, the FTC had sued Moneygram, charging that agents from the money transfer service helped fraudulent telemarketers and con artists who tricked consumers into wiring in excess of $84M within US and Canada. The fraudulent activity occured between 2004 and 2008. The $84M in losses was based on consumer complaints that Moneygram received—and the FTC estimates that the figure is actually larger (i.e., not all victims would have filed a complaint with Moneygram).
First, the court order, from last October, is requiring Moneygram to not only pay the $18 million to the FTC—which is to be used to provide redress to consumers—but also requires Moneygram to do the following:
- Not knowingly provide substantial help or support to any sellers or telemarketers that are violating the Telemarketing Sales Rule.
- Implement a comprehensive anti-fraud program, that includes background checks on prospective agents; consumer fraud education and training for Moneygram’s employees; agent monitoring; and disciplinary action for those agents who do not comply with the rules.
- Provide a clear and conspicuous fraud warning on the front of all its money transfer forms.
- Develop and maintain a system for receiving consumer complaints and data, and to provide that information to the FTC upon request.
- Take all reasonable steps to identify agents who are involved in fraud. This means Moneygram must review its transaction data to identify any unusual or suspicious activity by its agents and fire any agent who it believes may be participating in fraudulent activities; additionally, Moneygram must fire or suspend any agent who has not taken appropriate steps to stop fraudulent money transfers.
That’s all lovely of course, but what do you do if you’ve been the victim of a Moneygram scam?
If you’ve lost money in a Moneygram scam, here’s what to do:
- If you have already filed a complaint with Moneygram, there is no need to do anything further at this time.
- If you have NOT filed a complaint with Moneygram, you need to do so. Call Moneygram at 1-800-Moneygram to file your complaint.
- The FTC is working on developing a refund program to appropriately distribute the $18M, however, given that the settlement is capped at $18M, the FTC is alerting consumers to that fact that they will only be eligible for a partial refund (i.e., so don’t expect to recover all monies you may have lost as a result of the scam).
- If you do participate in the refund program, you will not give up your legal rights (translation: you can still pursue legal recourse).
We’ll keep monitoring the situation, but you can also call the FTC for updates as well at 202-326-3755.
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I was scammed out of 1366.00 from a company called CashLoan.Net (Phillip Wade) account manager. How can I recover some of my money?
I was scammed $900 for pet delivery and never received our puppy . Above website is who scammed me. They refuse to refund me since puppy was never delivered
Who scammed you? I was scammed out of $2000 by luxuryk-9kennels.
I was also scammed from a pet delivery service and never received my puppy. Did you get your money back and how
I also was scammed for a pet delivery, first i had to send 400.00 for a puppy afte i sent a money gram to this company they first emailed then called me saying the puppy needed a special crate for some weather flying conditions safety of my puppy so i paid 1500 and was told my puppy would be at my doorstep the next day at 9:30 am well that time came the next day, i recieved another email stating in order to get my puppy id have to pay 3000 for my city permit which then i realized it was a scam. So i lost 1,900 over this scam. How and can i get my money back?
Was this someone called lussy Mars?? Selling 2 English bulldog pups and wanted payments to go to a DANIEL KONA SIMO IN UNITED STATES I was scammed out of £1215 for this. And everything u have said is exactly the same. Everything…
I’ve had the same thing happen to me on dec 30th of 2015 and I still cant log into my moneygram account. I gave them info even the state police of the area i gave information of what happened and yet nothing was done? what the fudge….
I was just a victim of the same thing but I only lost &250 for a husky puppy the seller gave me the name of janotte aldeilad I debt the money via money Graham then I decided an e mail claiming to be a company called uship.com told me my puppy needed a special crate I looked it up and all it was a crate with a fan on it the kept calling me saying I needed to pay$1’200 or they where going to sue me for port abandonment these people have got alot if guts I have contacted the FBI in Maryland they took info but nothing yet
Me and my boyfriend were also scammed in the same way, what company did they say they were and where did they have you send the money? I ask because we’re in the process of reporting them and hopefully if it’s the same it will be a little easier to find regular patterns they use.
Us too!!! Scammed from buying a pet and delivery!
This happened to me as well
I spent 450 for the animal and then I got an email stating I needed to pay a 950 dollar insurance fee… the sller offered to go half and half but I realized it was a scam I lost 450 but didn’t send the 550
I was just scammed the same way. I paid for a pom puppy. The day she was to be delivered to my home I get an email stating that I needed to pay for flight insurance of over $900. I called them and said that I can’t afford that because I just paid for the puppy but I will drive down there and pick her up. They said no and hung up. I have called the cops and filed a report and I am still waiting. I know that they don’t have the puppy. And I found proof of that. I sent every single email that we both sent to the police officer. Does anyone else have any other suggestion on how to go about getting my money back for the puppy. I didn’t pay for.the flight insurance. Just the Puppy.
I was scammed out for 900$ on a transmission that was never sent out to me am very disappointed just like everyone else what can we do to get this money back
Well if anyone gets someone to reply to them about getting your money back please let me know I was scammed for $2000 for a puppy I have proof I paid it plus a contract I have reported them to the BBB plus the FBI scam and fraud unit and now its just a waiting game no one has contacted me back yet.
Small claims court is your best bet if the person even exist… make sure u make a compliant with your local police department also,.. or u will never see your money ever again,.. Thats what I have been told..
Scammed out of $1,950.22. Look out for these names… Paul Causey, Latricia Ann Higgins, Am Lee. They are supposed to be from a moving company. Do people ever get their money back??
I was scammed out of 250.00 from ronnie Cooper who offered me a loan
I was scammed by money gram international via geovist credit union and patelco credit union. One with check for $1499 and other with check for $1999 to be a secret shopper. Secret shopper for money gram to people in Texas. Took me for everything. I am irate and wish I would have known about all of this and or done more research. These people need to be stopped and dealt with.
I received a check today for $1950, thank you for posting this. Exact same scenario sending money to people in Texas. Thankfully I didn’t deposit this check. Who do I report this to?
Names included where Miranda bryttany Johnson, Michael Palmer, and Steven Davis
I was scammed $2800 for promised office equipment for employment. The scammer impersonated a senior recruiter and the company (Celgene).
I was scammed out of 1500 for a car yesterday. I just need this scammer to be caught and my money given back to me. I thought I was buying a car from ebay motors. I really needed this car because I have three small children and the vehicle I have now is starting to put me down.
Look out for ebay motors link n Felicia jones offering to sale an 2003 honda accord for 1500
This happened to me any luck? I contacted the moneygram and they said the money was cashed in Houston texas, but cant provide me with the full address because I am not the authority. Hopefully we catch these people soon. Sucks to know if I would have done research and would have seen this post I wouldn’t be out money as well.
I got scammed $2,200 by submitting a money gram for a per base on a car out of state. It was posted on Craigslist and said the women was deployed and needed to be an urgent sale and that we couldn’t talk on the phone. She said the payment was through Amazon and we had to send a money gram to an “agent.”
What state did you send money to?
same here but I call amazon to ask them was the phone number a real amazon number and I was told yes by an amazon employee. I would have never pay the money if I wasn’t told that.
I will give any lawyer all the money he win if any lawyer would help me
I think I just came across your scammer and almost went for same mo just a different car and now wants me to send money though Amazon I’m so happy I looked on here thank you
I was scammed out of $250 and I want my money Back his name is Jonathan Smith used name Jarvis Herron through money gram
I have purchased goods/iPhone but they never ship. I still have the seller information. He lives in UK but I don’t know how to get my money back from there. I send the money with Money Gram thourgh Escrow Alipay Team who work for Alibaba. Then they never shipped it.
I pay them for 2,250$. I still have the reference number.
First Name: Mark
Last Name: Wong
Street: 12 Gooseley Lane
City: London
Zip code: E6 6AP
Country: United Kingdom
Is it Oky collecting a check and cashing, send it to someone out of country by using money gram?
Or my God l can’t this happens to to me
I was scammed out of 1428.00 by some guy that goes by the name of William Flores when I was looking to rent a house. He said he was the owner. Along with Amelia Flores and bayo smith who was his lawyer. I am no out of a home to live in and all the money I had to get a place to go. This guy ruined my life!
I was scammed out of $795 dollars by a man named Chris.I was told he was lawyer and he supposed to be helping me with my bank accounts. But after I sent him the legal fee, he blocked my number and quit accepting my calls. My friend did a search on his number and found an Instagram account where he claims he can turn $250 into $5000… ironically,that’s the amount he was supposed to be sending me from my bank account…
I want my money refunded because now I am homeless, broke, and in debt
There is someone scamming i lost $1500 buying a car from “ebay motors” seems like she got a few more people on here. Said she was in military base and needed home now. Was anyone else’s money sent to oklahoma?
Who was the seller?
Yes i was scammed out of 1500 pn the 16th of feb this year by 2 people. I thought i was buying a 2003 honda accord. It looked so real. I saw the car on Craigslist then when i emailed the lady ans she said she had put the car on ebay motors and she woukd get them to email me. Then after i found i was scammed they tired to get more mkney out of me. Then i saw the same car on Craigslist closer to me i emailed that person and got the same email as the ones who scammed me sent.
I did sent money to Oklahoma.
Did anyone get any of their money back. I was just scammed out of almost $1,000
Has anybody lost money to somebody claiming to have prescription drugs for sale?
patricia It is illegal for anyone to buy prescription drugs unless they have a prescription from a doctor & purchased at a pharmacy and it is illegal for someone to sell prescription drugs unless they are a pharmacy lol U should know that…
Thats commen sense!!
I was scammed 500 from a facebook user called Angel George in Illinois. Her accomplice are Jesse Williams and Kasha Dupaty. The phone number she provided was 872-777-0765.
I was scammed out 2500 trying to buy a nissan from a lady named amanda who say she was a “flight attendant” and she was going to set the transaction thur ebay motors . they sent me emails and i even talked to someone by phone with 1-800 number . first i sent 1500 for the car and was asked to send 1000 more for insurance. Im a single mom with a 1yr old who be sick alot and i have to call off work alot so i was saving my hard earning money for a car for us . this people had me crying for ah whole week and still angry about it . this happen to me feb 20 .
I s also scammed with eBay Motors trying to buy a truck I sent 1500 but didn’t send the other 1000 they asked for a few that would be refunded but I didn’t send the other 1000then after I sent the money she said eBay would contact me and no one ever did
I want my 1500 back tho.
i’m so sorry to hear that. i was scammed recently this week i been crying also idk how to get over it there people said they would rent us a home but ended u to be fraud we had money saved up but now its all gone we have no place to stay and we are staying at a motel and it hurts more when you have kids its sad to see them sleeping in a place thats not your home and cannot provided. it sucks more that my husband the only one that works im just a stay at home mom and a full time student trying to finish getting my bachelors.
I was scammed out of $225 ordering shoes out of Detroit Michigan her name was Florence Chapman and her Facebook name is Flo Chapman. I’m tryn to see how can I go about getting my money back and she has picked it up.
Same thing just happened to me How can i go by getting a refund because people are crazy i still have receipts & all
Take her to small claims court.
Call an attorney in your area and ask for free legal advice on how to take her to court. Dont wait to long or u will loose it all.
My ex and l are both elderly and l am handicapped too. We were scammed out of $600.00 in Denver by Charles T. Ochiato, in regards to renting a home. A realtor was in on it too.
Moneygram won’t let me send money to my own daughter, with the same last name yet they let you all send it to buy goods and services and they are scams. Moneygram sucks.
My wife got scammed over $3,000 through a company called NRTC Communications as they offered a an executive assistant job to transfer money that they sent to our home.
I was scammed last feb.24, 2016 when i send money through money gram for my wife.. i send 175,000php but unfortunately my money was withdrawn by another person.. i had a hard time earning money because im the only one working in my family.. thats why i need to refund the money..
Hello am just wondering thoughts on this, i have been asked to do a moneygram tomorrow to someone who is meant to be selling me a irish blue pup but dont fully trust it and am worried the person has told me to keep reciept and referance number and not to give it to him until pup has arrived 🙂 please any help??
Did you ever end up sending the $? Money grams can be picked up with just a name at some locations
Has anyone ever recovered their money these people should not be able to get away with this hard working people get screwed over by sorry people that take advantage of them that’s sad where’s justice, where’s our peace of mind come on!! I’m pissed but ik its all full circle..God will take care of them but I’d love to see them get caught
i agree i went to my local police station and filed a complaint even through ic3.gov.com and they told me there is hardly any chances of finding them or tracking them which i think is dumb he was basically saying anyone can get away with fraud especially if its internationally.i hope and pray God lets them get caught.
I think craigslist and walmart ar responsble
Money gram did same thing just yesterday, I sent $900 to my brother in Ghana,he could not cash the money and money gram refuse to tell us where but insist the money has been received, but wouldn’t say where,I suspect it’s a scam going on so people should watch they are being very smart about it and makes it hard for unsuspecting new customers to believe what we are saying here,as they nevertheless still deliberately deliver for the most part,they need to be checked for this criminal activity.new customers should take this seriously.
I purchased a Bengal kitten, 14 weeks old. I sent them 844.08 Can. the kitten was never shipped. Their Web Sites are Clan Bengals, and Dapper Bengals They supposedly breed Bengal Cats. 5 weeks later that Kitten is still advertised as 14 weeks old. Jeff Conner was
promoting the kittens and Peter Harrison, collected the money. their adds are still on the
Web sites.they seem to be in the Boston and Springfield area.
Hi , We was scamed from the same website , we are at Argentina , and we sent 1560 dols , never appeared ! we reported to FBI there at USA , by the website and nothing happened , also we report to the BBB and they told us that they cant do anything , also qee reported him to our Police department here , they have the case , He scamed us at april 18 , so please if you didnt reported to FBI , do it , we have to make the reports ! if we are more people its better , The BBB told us that they hadnt got any report of this website from nobody , so do it ! its better than Nothing ! and be in touch ! thanks
I’m in the process of getting a kitten and i have been told i need to use money gram to send the money to N-SHIPPERS, can someone tell me if N-SHIPPERS is actually real or a scam?
I have looked at the website and it seems legit but i cannot find out much about the company, has anyone been scammed through N-SHIPPERS before?
When u deal with a new company for the first time ,makesure u make the payment using a credit card rather than moneygram ,coz incase of credit cards you can always go to your bank for a chargeback and shutdown the company who scammed you
Shannon,
I am dealing with a money gram scam right now and I have lost all trust for money gram unless you PERSONALLY know the person you are sending money to. I would not recommend sending money to ANYONE you don’t know. These scammers are very good at what they do and can make any situation believable. If someone is legitimate, they would be able to take other forms of payment other than money gram. Good luck.
Sarah
I was scammed by a Brandon Banks told me to send the money to Victor Thomas and I would get stock money of $5000 on a Walmart card. I sent the $1000 and never got anything in return. He stop taking my calls too. I needed the money to bury my granddaughter. So heartless!
Of course it’s a scam…why would someone flip your 1k into 5k when they don’t even know you? No such thing as free money, greed gets the best of people.
I was recently scammed by someone who got my number from care.com and was looking for a nanny. Her back story was that she was moving from Nebraska for work and her company would be paying my fees as well as money for her move. After a somewhat extensive (apparently not extensive enough) communication about the job expectation and details, she said that a check would be sent and for me to deposit it into my account. I did so and the lady (claiming to be a Susan Wiggins) asked if I could then money gram her “realtor” some funds for her apartment fees. I told her that I would not touch the money until my bank cleared the check and she became a little persistent (red flag for sure but I was confident I’d find out if she was a scammer as her check would either bounce or be cleared). So I kept in contact with my bank and unfortunately, I spoke with someone who gave me incorrect information; they told me the “check cleared. The money is good to spend”. So I sent the money (totaling $1723) as at that point I took my bank’s word and it wasn’t for me to decide how she wanted her money delegated. Turns out, the check did not clear and here I am, down $1700. My recommendation to any and everyone is to NEVER send a money gram unless you know the person personally (I know it’s common knowledge but these people do what they do because they are conniving and convincing sociopaths).
I recently got scammed out of £1215 for a pet transfer. I was due to be receiving bulldog puppies from someone In kirkwall called lussy Mars. She told me her husband was sick n in a comma. The pups were free but the shipping was £120 in that process I made the payment to someone called Daniel KONA SIMO in United States north dakota fargo. I paid the total of £1215 and not received the puppies. I believe this is a scam as the emails do not link to a website and the attitude from the “pets on the move” company was vile. I believe it was the same person sending me the emails as it was sending me messages via Fb. Please help as this money was an inheritance from my partners dad to my partner before his dad passed. And advice would be highly appreciated
I sent $2000.00 to a person I know in California, to help me purchase a guitar I found. Between Walmart and money gram, the taxes and fees were $60.00. So, $2,060.00 was taken from me and not sent to California. Now neither money gram or Walmart will tell me what happened to my money, and won’t give me a refund. The customer service number they gave me to call, sent me to a foreign country where the English is bad but the service is worse. I was on hold twice for over 2 hrs each. Walmart and money gram are the scammers. I will very possibly be suing them both.
I was also scammed on a pair of toy yorkie pups. I sent the money for “relocation papers” and then they said I had to pay a “refundable insurance fee” before the pups could be shipped. I then realized this was a scam. Her name was Pattia Rose Jones. We had over 50 emails because I was very suspicious as time went on. So they even said that I was gonna be charged with pet abondement, so charge me. Disappointed about the pups but glad I wasn’t taken for even more.
Just got scamed by rockstar energy for two grand. Had good Web page and everything. Watch out for checks coming from litani imports 6670 west Palmerton Dr mentor oh 44060
I was scammed for $4,000. Have all the reciepts. I was promised 15 units of Apple iPhones and import license which I never got
Stay away from Daniel Fornelius they took 1984.47 from me please do not wire money to someone you can’t see
I am victim of IRS phone scam, I was scammed into transferring $3000 using moneygram and another $8000 using itunes card. I was threatened and harassed the whole day without giving me anytime to eat or drink. I filed police complaint, called moneygram, itunes and everyone. I have been robbed of my hard earned money.
i fell for the same scam. i lost about 2k more overall. Made me buy an additional phone battery and GPS in the process too.
they used a two prong attack where they called first with the “IRS” guy and then while Im on the phone with them, they actually called again by spoofing the phone number of the local police headquarters, which is the number that caller-id uses for a lot of their outgoing calls.
They are very well-informed and well-rehearsed. Threatened and harassed the whole day.
All the retailers tell me I need to talk to iTunes because they ultimately receive the money and have the ability to track the buyers and sellers.
iTunes Store Senior Manager told me that iTunes does not receive money from the gift cards, and that there is no way for any scammers to turn iTunes giftcard money into cash. I informed them that its possible for people to set up iTunes content for the purposes of laundering the money through their system but they are not willing to look into it or do anything until they are forced to do something by the authorities.
What options do I have?
I was scammed by a buyer on Gumtree Classified ads online who sent me a false invoice from Paypal from a false PalPal account, saying that the buyer had included transport fees that I then had to forward via MoneyGram to be able to receive the payment… I have filed a complaint with MoneyGram. As their identity was usurpated and used against my person, I feel they should be responsible, as well as PayPal. How can I claim this?
Regards, Joanna
I was scammed for $4,300 to someone in Nigeria. I filled a people claim against money gram at first they replied but then just stopped snd left me hanging
I sent money by moneygram. It was picked up within minutes after I had the money released. Not by the receiver. I filed a complaint, the assured me I would get my money back, new they say they can’t, what can I did next? They are crooks and liars,
I was scammed our if $1500 for purchasing all dog and traveling insurance and permits..can someone please tell me how to get money back .please