"Western Union Update" Fraudulent Text Message Scam

The text message below: "Western Union Update," which appears as if it was sent by Western Union, is a phishing scam created by scammers or cyber-criminals to steal the recipients’ Western Union account credentials (email address and password). Recipients of the email or text message, which appears as if they came from Western Union, asking them to click on or follow a link, should delete the message. Western Union will never send text messages to their customers, asking them to click on a link to update their account information.

The Western Union Phishing Scam

FRM: WesternUnion@Westernunion.com (1(410)200-500)
Subj: Western Union Update
Msg: New account notice!

Please act: micro-ho.com/wu.html

The link in the phishing text message goes to a fake Western Union website. 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.