Western Union fraud victims can petition for remission by December 31

Estimated reading time: 8 minutes.

Key facts

What it is: The U.S. Department of Justice has opened phase three of the Western Union remission process, a federal program that pays fraud victims from money Western Union forfeited in 2017.
Who may qualify: People who lost money to fraud after sending a Western Union money transfer between January 1, 2004 and March 9, 2020.
What changed: Earlier phases covered transfers through January 19, 2017. Phase three extends the window to March 9, 2020.
Deadline: Petitions must be submitted online or postmarked by December 31, 2026.
Cost: The official administrator says there is no fee to file. Nobody legitimate will ask you to pay to get remission money.
Not a class action: This is a DOJ forfeiture remission program. There is no court class, no opt-out, and no settlement hearing.

What the Justice Department announced

On October 7, 2026, the Justice Department announced a third compensation phase for people who were defrauded through Western Union money transfers. Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Criminal Division called it the third and final phase of the remission process.

The department said the process has already paid more than $436.9 million to more than 180,000 victims. The official remission website gives a slightly different running total of more than $430 million to more than 178,000 victims, and says those victims received full compensation for their losses. The two figures may reflect different cut-off dates; neither source explains the gap.

Phase three reopens petitions to potential victims who did not file before. It also covers a longer period of transfers than the earlier phases did.

What "remission" means here

When the government seizes or receives forfeited money, federal law lets victims ask for part of it back. That request is called a petition for remission. The Justice Department, not a court, reviews each petition and decides who gets paid and how much.

Why Western Union forfeited $586 million

On January 19, 2017, Western Union, a money transfer company headquartered in Englewood, Colorado, entered a deferred prosecution agreement with the Justice Department. A deferred prosecution agreement is a deal in which prosecutors file criminal charges but agree to dismiss them later if the company meets set conditions.

The charges were filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania as a two-count felony criminal information. A criminal information is a formal charging document that prosecutors file without a grand jury indictment. It charged Western Union with willfully failing to maintain an effective anti-money laundering program, which the Bank Secrecy Act requires, and with aiding and abetting wire fraud.

Under the agreement, Western Union admitted those violations and agreed to forfeit $586 million. The Federal Trade Commission filed a parallel civil complaint in the same court. It alleged that Western Union knew fraudsters used its system, that some Western Union agents were complicit, and that the company did not act promptly against problem agents. Western Union settled the FTC case with a $586 million monetary judgment, which was satisfied by the payment to the Justice Department.

According to the Justice Department's 2017 and 2026 descriptions, the fraud schemes included:

Grandparent scams, where a caller poses as a relative in trouble and asks for money.
Lottery and sweepstakes scams, where the victim is told to pay fees to collect a prize.
Romance scams, where a fake online partner asks for money.

The Justice Department said some Western Union agents, meaning the businesses authorized to send and pay out Western Union transfers, helped process fraud payments, and that Western Union failed to suspend or terminate agents it knew were involved. The department said Western Union met its obligations under the agreement, and the criminal information was dismissed in 2020.

Who can file in phase three

You may be eligible if all of these are true:

You were a victim of fraud, such as one of the scams above.
You sent money to the fraudster through a Western Union money transfer.
The transfer was sent between January 1, 2004 and March 9, 2020.

The official site says the earlier phases covered transfers from January 1, 2004 through January 19, 2017. Phase three adds transfers from January 20, 2017 through March 9, 2020 and reopens the process for people who never filed for the earlier period.

The government decides eligibility. Filing a petition does not guarantee payment, and the Justice Department has not published a fixed payment amount for phase three.

Check your old records now

Receipts, bank statements, police reports, or emails with the scammer can help the administrator verify a transfer. The official site asks petitioners to include any supporting documents they have.

How to file a petition

The remission administrator is Verita Global LLC, formerly known as Gilardi & Co. You can file in one of two ways.

Online. Go to the official site, westernunionremissionphase3.com, and complete the petition.

By mail. Print the petition form from the official site and mail it with any supporting documents to:

United States v. The Western Union Company Phase 3 P.O. Box 301132 Los Angeles, CA 90030-1132

The administrator's phone number is 1-833-419-4677.

The original phase three deadline was August 19, 2026. On August 5, 2026, the official site posted an update extending it to December 31, 2026. Some older pages on the site still show the August date; the update says December 31 controls. Petitions mailed after December 31 may be considered only at the Justice Department's discretion, so do not rely on a late filing.

If you filed in an earlier phase

According to the official site, people who filed in an earlier phase and listed transfers that fall in the extended period did not need to file again for those transfers. The site says those petitioners were mailed a letter and a check on May 21, 2026 for verified transfers in the extended period.

If you filed before but have additional transfers from the extended period that you never reported, the site says you must submit a new petition for them.

The Justice Department's announcement quoted U.S. Postal Inspection Service Inspector in Charge Christopher Nielsen describing "an additional $3.4 million in remission to 1,294 victims and the opening of the Victim Portal." The announcement does not break that figure down further.

How to avoid remission scams

Fraud victims are frequent targets for "recovery" scams. These are follow-up schemes where someone claims they can get your lost money back for a fee.

No fee, no exceptions

The official administrator says there is no cost to participate. Hang up on anyone who asks for payment, gift cards, wire transfers, or account passwords to "release" remission funds. Use only the official site and phone number above. You can report impostors to the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center at ic3.gov or to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.

Do not trust unexpected calls, texts, or social media messages that use the Western Union or Justice Department names. If you are unsure, call the administrator's published number yourself rather than calling back a number someone gave you.

Readers looking for other open recoveries can browse current cases you can join.

Timeline

January 1, 2004: Start of the eligible transfer period.
January 19, 2017: Western Union enters the deferred prosecution agreement and FTC settlement and forfeits $586 million.
November 13, 2017: The Justice Department opens the first remission petition process, covering transfers through January 19, 2017.
March 9, 2020: End of the transfer period now covered by phase three.
March 10, 2020: The FTC announces a first round of about $153 million in refunds to 109,000 people.
2020: The criminal information against Western Union is dismissed after it met the agreement's terms.
May 21, 2026: Letters and checks mailed to prior petitioners with verified extended-period transfers, per the official site.
August 5, 2026: Phase three deadline extended from August 19 to December 31, 2026.
October 7, 2026: Justice Department announces phase three publicly.
December 31, 2026: Petition deadline.

What we could not verify

The official site's subpages, including its FAQ and documents pages, were not accessible to us when we checked on October 13, 2026. This article relies on the Justice Department's October 7 announcement, the official site's home page and update notice, and the Justice Department and FTC releases from 2017 and 2020.

We did not find a published per-person payment amount or a total budget for phase three. The government has not explained why phase three ends on March 9, 2020, and we have not guessed at the reason. Western Union's admissions are limited to what it acknowledged in the 2017 agreement.

Frequently asked questions

Is the Western Union remission program a class action settlement?

No. It is a Justice Department remission process that pays victims from forfeited money. There is no class to join, no opt-out deadline, and no court approval hearing.

What is the deadline to file?

Petitions must be submitted online or postmarked by December 31, 2026. The deadline was extended from August 19, 2026.

Which transfers count?

Fraud-induced Western Union money transfers sent between January 1, 2004 and March 9, 2020. Earlier phases covered transfers only through January 19, 2017.

I already got paid in an earlier phase. Can I file again?

You need a new petition only for transfers you did not report before. If your earlier petition already listed verified transfers in the extended period, the official site says a letter and check were mailed on May 21, 2026.

Do I have to pay anyone to file?

No. The administrator says filing is free. Anyone asking for money to process a claim is not legitimate.

Who runs the program?

The Justice Department's Criminal Division oversees it, with the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. Verita Global LLC, formerly Gilardi & Co., administers petitions. The phone number is 1-833-419-4677.