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Western Union is VERY commonly used for immigrants to send money out of the US to family abroad. Just because you never use it, and only hear about it in the co
by erroneousfunk 10y ago
Western Union is VERY commonly used for immigrants to send money out of the US to family abroad. Just because you never use it, and only hear about it in the context of scamming doesn't mean that's how the whole world works. One of the commenters here also suggested preventing large money transfers to countries like Ghana and Nigeria. That would be terrible for Ghanaian and Nigerian immigrants with family back in the country, depending on their support. It's a cheap and reliable way to send money to people that doesn't rely on both parties having bank accounts. My husband works with Ghanaian immigrants who frequently use Western Union to send money back home, just as a personal note.
- protomyth 10y agoHeck, Western Union used to be very common for poor folks to send money to their relatives in the US too. It has largely been replaced by Walmart-to-Walmart since that is cheaper. https://www.walmart.com/cp/walmart-money-center/5433?povid=GlobalFooterMoneyCenter https://www.walmart.com/cp/walmart-money-center/5433?povid=G...
- Turing_Machine 10y agoYeah, Walmart is certainly one of the cheapest. I speculate that Walmart thinks it's good business to make a minimal profit on the money transaction because a substantial portion of the money winds up being spent in the Walmart store where it's received.
- protomyth 10y agoYou are probably correct, but I get the feeling the volume involved and low cost to Walmart probably have an affect.
- nommm-nommm 10y agoIn retail this is called a loss leader. However, the low overhead of the service probably contributes to the lower cost as well. This isn't their main business and Walmart already have TONS of locations, they don't have to pay rent or commission on physical locations nor do they have to pay for labor, the employees would be there anyways. It doesn't cost them hardly anything to add this service to their main business.
- Turing_Machine 10y agoMaybe just asking to see the person's Nigerian or Ghanaian passport would be enough to cut into the fraud without seriously inconveniencing legitimate users? I get the sense that almost none of the fraud victims are themselves Nigerian or Ghanaian, while virtually all of the legitimate senders will be.