Someone says money from abroad is waiting, but you must pay a fee first

This is true whether the message talks about a clearance fee, a tax, a customs charge or a conversion fee. It is true whether the caller says they are from a bank, a transfer company, customs or the central bank. The words change, but the request is always the same: pay first, and then you will get your money.

Why a real transfer never asks you to pay first

The person abroad pays the transfer company when they send. That payment covers the transfer. The company then pays the money into your bank account or wallet, or holds it for you to collect at a counter.

Sometimes there is a real cost on your side. Your bank may take an inward fee, your wallet may charge to cash out, or your country may tax some money from abroad. Those costs come out of the money itself, or they show in your own bank or wallet app. Nobody collects them from you in advance, into a stranger's account, by gift card, by crypto or by a wallet top-up. Our page on the real costs on the receiving side lists them.

The transfer companies say the same thing in their own words. Remitly says it "will never notify anyone of a prize, unexpected refund, or payment requiring money to be sent first in order to receive it." Paysend says: "We will never ask you to send money to receive a transfer."

The Reserve Bank of India has warned about these offers of money from abroad since at least 2012. In its 2018 warning it listed the fees people are asked for, including a "currency processing fee" and a "foreign currency conversion fee". It also said: "Nobody from RBI calls up people about lottery winnings/funds received from abroad."

What the message usually looks like

The scam uses the most normal thing in many families: money that comes from a son, a daughter or a sister working abroad. These are the forms the warnings describe.

• Money held at the bank: A transfer is "stuck" or "on hold" until you pay a processing, tax or conversion fee.
• A parcel at customs: A package from abroad is "awaiting clearance" and needs a payment first.
• A call from an official: Someone says they are from the central bank, customs or a transfer company, and asks for a fee.
• Money sent by mistake: A stranger says they sent you too much and asks you to send the difference back.

The last one works a little differently. The money was never sent, and the message that "proves" it is fake. If this is the one you got, read our pages on the "sent by mistake" trick on M-Pesa and on money sent to a wrong wallet number. The rule is the same: check your real balance before you send anything back.

For the parcel, Ghana's Cyber Security Authority gives plain advice: do not pay for a parcel you were not expecting or did not order yourself.

How to check if the money is real

You do not need the caller to check. You need the sender, and the transfer company's own app or website.

1. Call the person who is supposed to have sent the money. Use the number you already have for them, not a number from the message.
2. Ask them for the transfer's tracking number. On Western Union it is a 10-digit number called the MTCN. On MoneyGram it is called the reference number. Other apps show a reference number on the receipt.
3. Type the company's website address yourself, or open its app. Do not use any link in the message.
4. Check the status there. If the money was paid into your bank or wallet, look in your own bank or wallet app.

Western Union says the MTCN helps "you and your receiver follow your transfer's progress", and that it should only go to the person meant to receive the money. MoneyGram says your receiver can track the transfer with the same details you got when you paid.

If the sender did send money and it has not arrived, that is a different problem, and it has a real fix. Our page on a transfer that says complete but has not arrived walks through it. None of those fixes ask you to pay a stranger.

If you already paid

Move fast. The first hours matter, because a bank or wallet can sometimes stop the money before the thief moves it on.

First, call the bank or wallet you paid from. Tell them it was a scam and give them the details of the payment. Then report it to the national fraud channel for your country.

• You are in India. Call 1930, the national helpline for financial fraud, then complete the complaint at cybercrime.gov.in.
• You are in Pakistan. Call 1799, the helpline of the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency.
• You are in Ghana. Call or SMS 292, the Cyber Security Authority, or WhatsApp 0501603111.
• You are in Kenya and paid by M-Pesa. SMS the number to 333, then get an OB number at a police station.
• You are in Nigeria. Report it on the Nigeria Police National Cybercrime Centre portal at nccc.npf.gov.ng, and at your nearest police station.

Keep every message, number and receipt. You will need them for the report.

Money paid to a scammer is often not recovered. The Reserve Bank of India says plainly that it takes no responsibility for getting such money back.

If you are the one abroad

You may be reading this in London, Dubai or Toronto, sending money home every month. The people at home trust money from you. That trust is what the thief is using.

Use the button on this page to send the short message to your family. Then tell them one thing, once, in your own words: "I will always tell you myself when I send money. I will never ask you to pay anything to get it."

Corrections

None so far. If we get something wrong, the fix is dated here.