- Online money transfer company MoneyGram was accused of not doing enough to prevent fraud on its platform – and has been told by a leading US regulator that it will have to pay out to compensate victims.
- The Federal Trade Commission said that those who fell victim to the scammers may now be able to get their cash back by getting in touch or filling out a form.
- “MoneyGram profited by making it easy for con-artists to get away with people’s hard earned money,” a senior figure at the regulator said in a statement to the press.
Victims of a scam working on the online money transfer platform MoneyGram have been told by a US regulator that they can now start filing claims to get their money back.
The scam, which took place over the course of four years between 2013 and 2017, saw a number of people lose money.
It worked by exploiting the levels of relative anonymity offered by the MoneyGram platform.
MoneyGram itself did not carry out the fraud, but it is accused of not honoring commitments to reduce fraud levels.
Those commitments were made as far back as 2009, and obliged the firm to act in the cases of agents in its network who were committing fraud.
In 2018, the platform said that it would pay $125m to settle a case levied by the US Department of Justice as well as the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
The FTC has since acted promptly to help distribute this cash.
It sent pre-completed claim forms to a number of victims – and the latest announcement focused on letting all victims know that it now may be possible to claim their cash back.
In a press release, the FTC shed some more light on why sending money is such a popular choice for those looking to commit fraud.
It said that this was in part because “money sent through money transfer systems can be picked up quickly at locations all over the world, and once the money is paid out, it is all but impossible for consumers to get their money back”.
A senior figure at the FTC said that now was the time for victims of the MoneyGram scam to make their claims.
Daniel Kaufman, who serves as acting director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, said that the regulator would act to make sure that MoneyGram reduces fraud in future.
“MoneyGram profited by making it easy for con-artists to get away with people’s hard earned money. Today, people can begin to recover, and we urge anyone who lost money to a scammer via MoneyGram to file a claim and get their check,” he said.
“We’re also committed to ensuring that MoneyGram lives up to its promises in the future to crack down on fraud in its system,” he added.
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