davidalan
New Member
My partner and I are moving to Brighton, UK. Before he left we arranged for him to meet with a landlord to put a deposit down a property. The guy claimed he was from Liverpool and needed proof of funds before he could show the place. I did not think that being too dodgy since every other responder from my Gumtree ad had mentioned this practice. (oh, hindsight...)
Getting on with it, I sent money ($3000) through Western Union in my partner's name, indicating it would be picked up in Brighton, UK. I then forwarded both the request and the receipt over to the landlord, as he had requested. Before doing so, I checked with Western Union over the phone on what I.D. was necessary for a cash pick-up (2 photo ID's) and I read the entire fine print on the form to send money. This transaction was definitely to someone that I trusted.
Within 1.5 hours of our last email exchange where I had sent him the receipts, the "landlord" had intercepted the money in London (not in Brighton as indicated). At the time of pick-up my partner was on an airplane en route to London and could not have possibly picked up the money. I was able to coax a phone number from the "landlord" and actually talked to him on the phone.
My partner opened a case with the Sussex police (UK) and I started contacting Western Union. He was interviewed by the police for an hour and sent them documentation such as passport stamps, airline itinerary, etc. I was able to gather from Western Union the address, date, and time that the money was picked up.
Western Union did a "paid in error" investigation and they did show that the money was paid out properly. This would seem, to me, to indicate that they were able to demonstrate that the agent at the pick-up location met all the requirements regarding ID checks to ensure the money was being delivered correctly. They referred me to an arbitration service where I submitted all of the documents that I have related to air travel, passports, etc.
The final piece that we delivered to the Sussex police was email transcripts with the landlord that provide both the arrangements we agreed to as well as a confession that the landlord had scammed us and he was from a poor country named Benin.
I am highly dissatisfied with the few details provided to me regarding Western Union's investigation. Furthermore, attempts at getting them to talk with the Sussex police have been futile since neither party wants to initiate the conversation despite each of them having unique evidence to the case.
I do understand there are 2 components here: (1) Western Union negligence (2) Criminal fraud matter involving the landlord.
I was hoping for some advice on whether we are basically out of luck or whether there are any legal rights or recourse for us, especially from Western Union. I am very angry and will not hesitate to apply it (appropriately) to the correct agency/channel if I have some semblance of a case.
If you have read this far I both applaud and thank you! dave.
Getting on with it, I sent money ($3000) through Western Union in my partner's name, indicating it would be picked up in Brighton, UK. I then forwarded both the request and the receipt over to the landlord, as he had requested. Before doing so, I checked with Western Union over the phone on what I.D. was necessary for a cash pick-up (2 photo ID's) and I read the entire fine print on the form to send money. This transaction was definitely to someone that I trusted.
Within 1.5 hours of our last email exchange where I had sent him the receipts, the "landlord" had intercepted the money in London (not in Brighton as indicated). At the time of pick-up my partner was on an airplane en route to London and could not have possibly picked up the money. I was able to coax a phone number from the "landlord" and actually talked to him on the phone.
My partner opened a case with the Sussex police (UK) and I started contacting Western Union. He was interviewed by the police for an hour and sent them documentation such as passport stamps, airline itinerary, etc. I was able to gather from Western Union the address, date, and time that the money was picked up.
Western Union did a "paid in error" investigation and they did show that the money was paid out properly. This would seem, to me, to indicate that they were able to demonstrate that the agent at the pick-up location met all the requirements regarding ID checks to ensure the money was being delivered correctly. They referred me to an arbitration service where I submitted all of the documents that I have related to air travel, passports, etc.
The final piece that we delivered to the Sussex police was email transcripts with the landlord that provide both the arrangements we agreed to as well as a confession that the landlord had scammed us and he was from a poor country named Benin.
I am highly dissatisfied with the few details provided to me regarding Western Union's investigation. Furthermore, attempts at getting them to talk with the Sussex police have been futile since neither party wants to initiate the conversation despite each of them having unique evidence to the case.
I do understand there are 2 components here: (1) Western Union negligence (2) Criminal fraud matter involving the landlord.
I was hoping for some advice on whether we are basically out of luck or whether there are any legal rights or recourse for us, especially from Western Union. I am very angry and will not hesitate to apply it (appropriately) to the correct agency/channel if I have some semblance of a case.
If you have read this far I both applaud and thank you! dave.