Greenwood Village-based Western Union said Tuesday it plans to return $400,000 in fees to about 12,000 customers whose money transfers were seized in an investigation into human and drug smuggling between the U.S. and Mexico.
Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard seized money transfers worth $500 or more between customers in 29 U.S. states, including Colorado, and the Mexican border state of Sonora.
“We are pleased to return the fees to our customers whose funds were seized by the state of Arizona. We regret that their hard-earned cash has been tied up in a complex and prolonged court proceeding,” Western Union spokesman Daniel Diaz said.
The seizures, which occurred mostly in 2005 and early 2006, were stopped by a judge in a case that is on appeal.
“All of the seizures were done because it was our view that these were transactions involved in the commission of crimes, primarily human smuggling and drug smuggling,” said Steve Wilson, a spokesman for Goddard’s office.
Funds were promptly returned in cases where people could show authorities they were making legitimate transfers, Wilson said.
The Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights has sued Goddard’s office in a separate case seeking the return of $12 million out of $17 million in funds seized.
“Rather than targeting the individual cases where suspicious transactions may have occurred, Goddard targeted masses of people for having Hispanic-sounding last names,” Juan Salgado, board president of the immigrant group, said in a statement. “Western Union is taking an important step in the right direction by treating these people as valued customers, not criminals.”
Western Union said it has started sending out letters in both Spanish and English.
“We are optimistic that the courts will ultimately order the return of the funds seized to their rightful owners,” Diaz said.
In a separate case, Western Union is also reaching out to about 20,000 customers whose information was contained in a file breached by a computer hacker last month.
“We have no indication that any identify theft or fraudulent transactions have taken place,” spokeswoman Sherry Johnson said.
Western Union is contacting affected customers and offering them a year’s worth of free credit monitoring via Equifax.
Johnson said the company is working closely with federal and state law enforcement authorities.
She was unable to say if any suspects had been arrested or whether any Colorado customers’ information was breached.
Staff writer Aldo Svaldi can be reached at 303-954-1410 or asvaldi@denverpost.com.
