MoneyGram refund program opens to take claims

If you used MoneyGram to send money to a scammer between January 1, 2013 and December 31, 2017, you may be eligible to file a claim for a refund. The company handling claims — Gilardi & Co. LLC — is distributing $125 million from MoneyGram’s 2018 settlements with the FTC and Department of Justice (DOJ). In those cases, the FTC and DOJ charged that MoneyGram failed to meet agreements to crack down on consumer fraud involving money transfers.

You're eligible to file a claim if:

• you sent a MoneyGram transfer to a scammer from the United States between January 1, 2013 and December 31, 2017, and
• you used your name on the money transfer.

The deadline to file a claim online or by mail

is August 31, 2021.

You don't have to be a US citizen or in the US to file a claim. If you already returned a prefilled form to Gilardi & Co. LLC, you don’t need to file another claim. You can file online, or print the claim form and mail it in with copies of MoneyGram receipts, “send” forms, and transaction history reports.

The claim form requires you to give your Social Security number (SSN). That’s because the federal Treasury Offset Program must find out whether you owe money to the US government before you can get a payment. It needs your SSN to do that.

You don’t have to pay fees to file your claim. You don’t need a lawyer to file a claim. Don’t pay anyone who contacts you and says they’ll help you file a claim or get your money back. When you file a claim, you have to give a MoneyGram money transfer control number (MTCN), an eight-digit number assigned to a MoneyGram transfer. It’s listed on MoneyGram receipts and completed “send” forms.

For more information about eligibility, the claims process, and other topics, go to ftc.gov/moneygram and moneygramremission.com

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