FTC: MoneyGram International To Pay $18 Million In Telemarketing Settlement
October 20 2009 - 12:04PM
Dow Jones News
MoneyGram International Inc. (MGI) will pay $18 million to
settle charges that it allowed its money-transfer system to be used
by telemarketing scammers who bilked Americans out of tens of
millions of dollars, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission announced
Tuesday.
The FTC alleged that MoneyGram agents assisted fraudulent
telemarketers who fooled American consumers into wiring more than
$84 million to locations in the United States and Canada. The
scammers told victims that they had won a lottery, were hired for a
secret shopper program or were being offered guaranteed loans, the
FTC said.
MoneyGram ignored warnings from law enforcement that its network
was being used to facilitate fraud, the commission alleged.
The $18 million in settlement money will be used to compensate
victims, the FTC said.
Under terms of the agreement, Minnesota-based MoneyGram will
implement anti-fraud and monitoring programs.
The company is the second-largest money-transfer service in the
United States, behind Western Union Co. (WU).
-By Brent Kendall, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-9222;
brent.kendall@dowjones.com