Tbf when you are sending a Western Union transfer, the form that you fill out has a very specific warning, in bold, saying that WU is commonly used for scams and to never ever send any money to someone you don't know. I imagine the effectiveness of these warnings is near zero.
Anecdotally the WU customer service agents (usually at third party check cashing/money service places that) are much, much less suspicious of questioning people on money transfers when the ethnic appearance of the person matches the destination. Since sending money to family members and friends is one of the most common uses of WU. For instance a person who looks south asian sending money to Pakistan. Or a person who looks Filipino sending money to some small town in Palawan.
