On January 19, 2017, The Western Union Company (Western Union) agreed to forfeit $586 million and entered into agreements with the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. In its agreement with the Department of Justice, Western Union admitted that it violated U.S. laws- The Bank Secrecy Act and anti-fraud statutes- by processing hundreds of thousands of transactions for Western Union agents and others involved in an international consumer fraud scheme. As part of the scheme, fraudsters contacted victims and falsely posed as family members in need or promised prizes or job opportunities. The fraudsters directed the victims to send money through Western Union to help their relative or claim their prize. 

The scheme, investigated by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, involved the targeting of consumers by fraudsters through multiple scams. These scams included the grandparent scam, where the fraudster would pose as the victim's relative in need of immediate money to avoid personal harm, the lottery or sweepstakes scams, where the fraudster would tell the victim that they had won a large cash prize but had to pay fees such as taxes to claim the prize, and the romance scams, where the fraudster would pose as an online love interest and request funds for a visit or for another purpose. In each of these scams the fraudsters convinced their victims to send money through Western Union, and no victims received the promised cash, prize, or promoted item. 

The Department of Justice is overseeing the remission process and hired Gilardi & Co. LLC (Gilardi) to serve as the remission administrator in this matter. To date, the Department of Justice has distributed over $420 million in funds forfeited to the U.S. government from Western Union to over 175,000 victims, all of whom received full compensation for their losses.

Due to continued availability of forfeited funds, to compensate additional victims, the Department of Justice has opened the petitions process to potential victims who had a fraudulent transfer in the extended time period of January 1, 2004 through March 9, 2020. Previously the Remission Process was limited to January 1, 2004 through January 19, 2017. 

If you believe you were a victim of the fraud described above and you made a wire transfer through Western Union between January 1, 2004 and March 9, 2020, you may be eligible for remission. 

In order to be considered for a remission payment, you will be required to submit a Petition for Remission Form along with any available supporting documentation. Your petition must be postmarked on or before September 23, 2025, and completed online or mailed to: 

United States v. The Western Union Company Phase 3

PO Box 301132

Los Angeles, CA 90030-1132

If you previously filed a petition in the Western Union Phase 1 or 2 for verified transactions in the extended time period, a letter was sent to you on June 25, 2025 informing you that your petition was granted as to the verified transactions and included a check for this amount. A transaction summary was included with the letter for the transfers we have on file for you in the extended time period. If you have additional transfers to submit, you must submit a new Petition for Remission form and it must be postmarked on or before September 23, 2025 or submitted online by September 23, 2025. You can download a copy of the Petition for Remission form on the Case Documents tab.