Western Union Fees

There is a reason that there are so many problems with sending money into or out of the Philippines. There is one thing that we EXCEL in and continually battle with Ghana Africa for the number one slot, at least to my understanding, and that is Internet Financial Fraud. (Russia and Eastern Europe are up there too) The word Philippines sends cold shivers up and down the spine of any financial institutions security department. I have been personally told this in no uncertain terms by the security at Western Union, Xoom, Moneygram, Schwab, Chase, Citi Bank, and a few online telephone recharge companies, one owned by Paypal. So the next time some foreigner starts bitchin' about the internet, the brownouts, the crappy merchandise, the government services, the red headlights, the white tail lights, the no lights, just tell them to hold their head up and be proud. We have some of the best d*mn computer hackers in the world.

 

More modern banks know that international wire transfers are a thing.

 

I don't hold scammers in the same regard as hackers. I did mean hackers, meaning Filipino's that try to hack into the systems in other parts of the world. That is a totally different thing from what the Scammers do. We have both in the Philippines. Sometimes when an attack occurs, whole servers are blocked by some sites in the real world. If you happen to be on that server and try to do business you will be blocked. I sometimes get a message from Schwab telling me that the site is unavailable and to call their customer service number. A couple times I have called and gotten through enough tiers to get the answer that sometimes whole servers are blocked here in the PH for security issues. You sometimes can restart the modem and get reconnected and get hooked to a different server, and sometimes you have to wait until the next day. They don't like VPN's either. I don't know anything about computers but I'm assuming that if they say it is for security, they have either had some attempts from the blocked server or maybe is has some IP's on the blacklist, I don't know. I just know that we do have some serious hackers here and some serious scammers but yes they are different.

This is what comes up for Schwab when I am trying to get to the secure login page and I'm on a server that is blocked. I am not even able to get to the login page on the site.



We’re sorry, but we were unable to authorize your request. Please call us at 800-433-9196 and provide reference number SWAF-18.cd231c78.1505489484.1c73bac6. We apologize for any inconvenience.

0915-82LR
_____________________________________________________________
Some secured sites will give a "Refused to connect" message. This was also an attempt to get to a different institution's secure login page. It gives no error number, it just says

This site can’t be reached
www.xxxxxxxx.com refused to connect.

• Search Google for xxxxxxx.com

ERR_CONNECTION_REFUSED

In these cases you can, as I say, either reboot the modem or wait usually 1 day, by which time you are on a different server. Some other financial or government sites do not have the same security so some never exhibit this behavior.
As I say, the Schwab security pros have told me this about the blockages, I don't know that much about it, I just am taking their word for it. It may all just be BS, I don't know.

 

This thread refers specifically to WU - but (and not wishing to break my NYR of not going off-topic) I would be interested in recent experience of sending money from the Philippines by any method, where the transaction here is online from a bank account in the name of the abroad recipient or in the name of a different recipient or via cash payment using the likes of WU (not that have much regard for them).

In particular, has anyone recently found a government limit imposed per transaction?

 

I used WU for years, along with Moneygram, but found WU rates increasing exponentially and incessant phone calls to prove my/my wife's ID way too troublesome under the auspices of "security" when, in fact, it did nothing to enhance the security of the transaction. I now use World Remit - they're UK based and it's all done online. Fees are around 0.001% dependent on amount and the money can be transferred to banks or picked up in cash from outlets such as MLHullier. Cash transfer time is around 5-10 minutes. All supported by text and email confirmations to sender and recipient. Highly recommend!

www.worldremit.com