Online Threat Alerts (OTA) - Alerting you to scams and frauds.
WesternUnion Urgent Notification Fraudulent Text Message Scams

The text message below: "WUMT.WesternUnion. Urgent.Notification.Follow," which appears as if it was sent by Western Union or from NY.gov, is a phishing scam created by scammers or cyber-criminals to steal the recipients’ Western Union account credentials (email address and password). Recipients of email or text messages appearing as if they came from Western Union, asking them to click on or follow a link, should delete the messages.

The Western Union Text Message Phishing Scam

From: 315166@NY .gov
"WUMT.WesternUnion. Urgent.Notification.Follow: bit.ly/1STWReW"

The link in one of the phishing text messages goes to the following fake Western Union website:

  • http://westernunion.global. money.transfer.international. centralcollegedublin.com/

Other fake Western Union email or text messages will contain links to other malicious or phishing websites. Remember, the legitimate Western Union website is located at: www.westernunion.com.

Now, once the potential victims enter their Western Union accounts credentials on the fake website in an attempt to sign-in, their credentials will be sent to the scammers who have created the website, who will use the stolen information to hijack their victims’ accounts. Once the scammers have access to their victims’ accounts, they will use the accounts fraudulently.

Victims of the Western Union text message phishing scam should change their passwords immediately and contact Western Union. They should let Western Union know that they were tricked by a fake text message, which took them to a phishing website where they unknowingly entered their accounts’ credentials in an attempt to sign-in, thinking they were on the legitimate Western Union website.