Western Union fraud victim remission, phase three (Justice Department)

The Justice Department reopened petitions on October 7, 2026 for people who lost money to scammers they paid by Western Union transfer, in what it calls the third and final phase of this remission process. If you sent a Western Union money transfer to a fraudster between January 1, 2004 and March 9, 2020 and did not petition in the earlier rounds, you may be eligible to file now; the first two phases returned more than $436.9 million to over 180,000 victims out of the $586 million Western Union forfeited. Payments are based on the loss a petitioner documents and are scaled down if approved petitions exceed the money available, so no amount is promised. Petitions are due December 31, 2026, and the department states that neither it nor its administrator ever asks for payment to take part.

Official claim page Official notice

When the money moves

What the official materials say about the payment schedule for this settlement, and what the administrator has published since. Every figure below is linked to the page it was read from.

Status: Payments have not started

Expected

The department gives no payment date for this phase. Petitions are reviewed after the December 31, 2026 cut-off, and earlier phases paid in batches over several years.

Read off the official notice, in its own words. These dates slip — an appeal can move a distribution by a year or more — so treat it as the administrator's plan rather than a schedule.

Source: the official notice ↗

Facts from the official materials

Status: Open
Type: DOJ victim remission fund
Category: Banking and finance
Defendant / company: Western Union
Administrator: Verita Global LLC, formerly Gilardi & Co. LLC, for the U.S. Department of Justice
Claim deadline: December 31, 2026
Eligibility period: January 1, 2004 – March 9, 2020
States: See official notice (often nationwide)
Proof: See the official notice for proof rules
Possible amount: Based on your documented losses
Source confidence: high
Last verified: October 14, 2026

Covered products and services

Western Union money transfers

A petition is paid against the loss you can document, and the department has not published what a petitioner may expect in this phase. Records of the transfer help: a receipt, a money transfer control number, a bank or card statement. If approved petitions come to more than the money available, payments are scaled down, so any figure is an estimate rather than a guarantee.

Where the settlement fund goes

Western Union forfeited $586 million under its 2017 deferred prosecution agreement with the Justice Department. The department says more than $436.9 million of that has already gone to over 180,000 victims across the first two phases, and it reopened the process because forfeited funds remain. It has not published how much is left for this third phase.

Why this case happened

In 2017 Western Union admitted criminal conduct including Bank Secrecy Act violations and aiding and abetting wire fraud, and agreed to forfeit $586 million, which the Justice Department has been returning to victims of an international consumer fraud scheme. Court documents describe grandparent scams, lottery and sweepstakes scams and romance scams in which victims were talked into sending money by Western Union transfer, with some Western Union agents complicit. The department announced the third and final phase of the remission process on October 7, 2026, reopening petitions to victims who did not file in the earlier rounds.

Eligibility questions

These questions help you decide whether to read the official notice. They are not a legal determination.

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