Don’t Take the $30 Western Union Reward Survey
We recently received the e-mail below from a reader:
I have not changed this message in any way. I'm forwarding this phishing scheme to you.
From: westernunionreview@westernunion.com
Subject: Take This $30 Reward Survey
Date: Mon, 2 Jun 2008 03:58:26 -0500
To: undisclosed-recipients:;
Dear Customer,
In an effort to continually measure the service quality given to Western Union members we send out random surveys asking for valuable feedback on how we are doing and how we can improve.
There are only a few questions to score and should only take a few moments of your time. Your patience will be rewarded with $30 direct deposit to your account and your name will automatically be entered into our quarterly drawing for a $600 grand prize.
Sincerely,
Western Union Team
Take the survey!
Our reader’s suspicions were dead-on, which we shared the minute we read this e-mail. The mention of “direct deposit” is a huge red flag, since this would entail forwarding these scam artists your bank account information, which is what this phishing attempt is all about.
Just to be sure, we contacted Western Union, who confirmed our suspicions. Here’s what they had to say:
"Thank you for bringing this matter to our attention. The e-mail you received was not sent nor authorized by Western Union. Please disregard the e-mail. We have forwarded the information to our Security Department for our own internal reporting purposes."
So whatever you do, delete any such e-mails from Western Union, and any other unsolicited offers involving direct deposit.