Local businesses lose hundreds of dollars to Western Union scam
By: Nikki Henderson
Updated: February 11, 2013
Bossier City Police are sending out a warning to area businesses that serve as locations for Western Union.
So far, three local businesses have been hit with a recent scam.
Investigators say the scam involves someone telephoning the businesses saying that they are with Western Union and that they want to run a test transaction.
The caller then instructs the business to enter certain information into the terminal along with a dollar amount and the transaction turns out to be an actual transfer of money.
In the three local cases, the transactions were sent to Orlando, Florida and left the businesses at a financial loss of about $900 each.
The Bossier City Police Department has informed Western Union about the scam. A representative of the company tells police that Western Union does not contact its business partners in such a way and is investigating the matter with the assistance of federal authorities.
