A West Vancouver family says they have been defrauded in a substantial money transfer to the Philippines and Western Union has failed to help them recover the missing funds.
Tony Ando sent his mother Shigeko an email while on vacation in Angeles, Philippines on April 13, asking her to withdraw $5,000 from his account and keep it at their West Vancouver home. Two days later, she received another email, asking that she quickly send the money to Tony in Angeles via Western Union.
Although she was concerned about the sudden change of plans and even asked Tony to confirm, Shigeko sent the money from a Western Unionlicensed Money Mart on Marine Drive in North Vancouver.
When Tony tried to collect the money, he was turned away by the Western Union agent because he didn't have his passport with him. At the time, it was with the Philippines Bureau of Immigration, getting Tony's visa updated, which he has the documentation to prove.
In the meantime, Shigeko received another request, purportedly from Tony, for another $1,500 to be sent via Western Union to help him complete a
project he had been working on.
It was only after Tony retrieved his passport and contacted Western Union that they learned the money had already been collected and that someone was impersonating Tony by using a fake email address that closely resembled his.
Since then, the Andos have reported the suspected fraud to Money Mart, Western Union's antifraud department, North Vancouver RCMP, the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre, the Angeles police, Manila police and the Philippines National Police, which has only resulted in getting an international runaround.
"They keep passing the buck and no one is able to help us," Shigeko said. "We'd like to get the money back."
While there's little she can do about the police in a developing country, Shigeko has been trying in vain to get some help from Western Union.
"I keep emailing and phoning the anti-fraud department and they said it takes 20 days for the investigation. Last week I got a letter from (Western Union). .. saying they have delivered the money as was requested and so there will be no further investigation," Shigeko said. "And yet the company policy, which Tony has got, is that they have to show a passport in order to retrieve the money. Yet somebody was able to do that."
The fiasco has been beyond frustrating for Tony who extended his stay in order to dog local police agencies and Western Union into taking action, though he has made little progress.
"Even if the emailer hacked into my mom's email, they're still not allowed to give money out without proper identification shown," Tony said. "It's so simple.
All they have to do is say to the outlet that gave the money away, 'If you didn't follow procedure, you're responsible for it.'" When asked how someone could collect the money without a passport or what the company is doing to help the Andos, a Western Union spokeswoman said the company cannot discuss specific cases.
"I can tell you, though, that Western Union works on a regular basis with law enforcement agencies from around the world. We're committed to continuing this co-operation to help address the important issue of consumer fraud," said Paula Barifouse, Western Union spokeswoman.
Typically, money is never refunded, Barifouse said, though agents complicit in fraud can be terminated.
In the meantime, Tony said he is preparing to pursue Western Union in a civil case when he returns to West Vancouver.
