Financial Planning 5 Times You Should Never, Ever Wire Money Read the Article Open Share Drawer Share this: Click to share on X (Opens in new window) X Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window) Tumblr Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window) Pinterest Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window) LinkedIn Written by Mint.com Published Apr 4, 2013 3 min read Advertising Disclosure The views expressed on this blog are those of the bloggers, and not necessarily those of Intuit. Third-party blogger may have received compensation for their time and services. Click here to read full disclosure on third-party bloggers. This blog does not provide legal, financial, accounting or tax advice. The content on this blog is "as is" and carries no warranties. Intuit does not warrant or guarantee the accuracy, reliability, and completeness of the content on this blog. After 20 days, comments are closed on posts. Intuit may, but has no obligation to, monitor comments. Comments that include profanity or abusive language will not be posted. Click here to read full Terms of Service. The email came from an acquaintance who had a respectable management job in Washington. “I’m sorry for this emergency,” she wrote, “but I just have to let you know about my present predicament.” She’d been called away on a trip to the Philippines. Everything was fine until she was “attacked on my way back to the hotel.” “I wasn’t hurt, but I lost my money, bank cards, mobile phone and my bag in the course of this attack,” she adds. Bottom line: She needed money to get back home, and wanted me to help. Could I wire her money? Obviously, I didn’t — and you probably wouldn’t have, either. Turns out my friend had inadvertently given her password to a criminal through a “phishing” attack and they were looking for suckers to send them money. Fortunately, the email was filled with grammatical errors that betrayed the identity of the scammer. But plenty of people fall for a similar trap. Exact numbers are hard to come by, but I deal with them almost every day: consumers who wire money to people they think they know. Scammers love to use wire payments because they’re rarely caught. It’s so prevalent that companies such as Western Union warn their customers about the dangers of wiring money to people they don’t know or have never met. As I review some of my most frustrating cases of the past year, I see that many of them have one thing in common. Many of them ended when they wired money somewhere. I just tried to help someone who lost more than $30,000 to a scammer. Unfortunately, the cash can’t be recovered. I’m spending the next few posts talking about the things you should never ever do as a customer. Topping the list: wiring money. If you read only one of my stories this month, I hope it’s this one. I’m tempted to tell you to never wire money, but that’s not entirely reasonable. In some countries, money wiring is common, although there are some protections in place to prevent fraud. Here are a few times when you should never ever wire funds: To an acquaintance or a “friend” who is having an emergency that can’t be verified. That will short-circuit the phishing scam I mentioned earlier. Spotting these scams is fairly easy. The emails asking for help are written in bad English and the circumstances of the crisis are preposterous. It’s an “unexpected” trip to a faraway place, often completely out of character for your friend. Don’t fall for it. To anyone who insists the “only” way to pay is to wire. I’ve been dealing with another type of scam that affects people who rent vacation homes. They were told they could only wire the money, and that if they didn’t do it soon, the opportunity would be lost. That’s a bad sign. To anything that looks too good to be true. That includes people who call you on the phone, claiming you’ve won the lottery or that a long-lost relative died and left you millions of dollars. PS: the only way to “claim” your winnings is to wire money for “taxes” or for a processing fee. Run, don’t walk! To anyone who gives you a check and asks you to wire part of it. Not so long ago I dealt with a scammer who sent a fake check to someone for an apartment rental. The check was for too much, by a few hundred dollars. No problem, the scammer said — could you wire me the difference. You can probably guess what happened next, right? To anyone you don’t know personally. Better yet, don’t wire money to anyone you’re not related to (I know, it might be impractical). If you send money, make sure there’s a mechanism to un-send: a dispute process or a third party that can mediate a disagreement. When you wire money, it’s gone for good. And no one — not even a well-connected consumer advocate — can get it back. Christopher Elliott is a consumer advocate who blogs about getting better customer service at On Your Side. Connect with him on Twitter and Facebook or send him your questions by email. Previous Post How to Work Through Negotiating 150k in Student Loan Debt Next Post 6 Steps to Starting an Emergency Fund Written by Mint.com More from Mint.com Browse Related Articles Mint App News Intuit Credit Karma welcomes all Minters! Retirement 101 5 Things the SECURE 2.0 Act changes about retirement Home Buying 101 What Are Homeowners Association (HOA) Fees and What Do They Cover? Financial Planning What Are Tax Deductions and Credits? 20 Ways To Save on Taxes Financial Planning What Is Income Tax and How Is It Calculated? Investing 101 The 15 Best Investments for 2023 Investing 101 How To Buy Stocks: A Beginner’s Guide Investing 101 What Is Real Estate Wholesaling? Life What Is A Brushing Scam? Financial Planning WTFinance: Annuities vs Life Insurance