The Federal Trade Commission announced recently that victims who lost money to a scammer by sending money via Western Union between 1/1/2004 to 1/19/2017 have until February 12, 2018 to file a claim to get their money back. The FTC’s settlement with Western Union, which agreed to return $586 million to people to settle the FTC’s charges that Western Union hadn’t adequately protected people from fraud, and didn’t properly discipline problem agents.

Here are some highlights of the article:

• If you already reported your fraud loss to Western Union, the FTC, or another government agency, you might get a claim form in the mail. You can file your claim online – just use the Claim ID and the PIN that are on the form you get in the mail.

• If you didn’t already report your loss, or you don’t get a claim form in the mail, go online to file your claim. Start at FTC.gov/WU to get to the claims website.

• The claim forms ask for your Social Security number (SSN). That’s because, before they can send you a check, DOJ is required to see whether you owe money to the US government. For that they need your SSN. That’s why we’re suggesting filing your claim on the secure website.

• It will take up to a year for the DOJ to process claims.