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09:55
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Q: Should we tell a client about a possible scam pertaining to a document we weren't supposed to read?

MarkusOur IT product retail shop provide scan and send service. As employees, we are not allowed to read or discuss things they scan. There is one female client that comes to use this service on regular basis. My colleagues and I noticed that she always scans Western Union money sendings, sometimes she...

The only reason I would be scanning this stuff, and especially not somewhere private but at some shop where it cannot be traced to me easily is when I am trying to generate a paper trail to expose the scam.
She is not scammer, but scammed. Most likely she don't have access to scanner. She looks like average person of low-mid class.
This question should actually be asked on law.se , not on workplace.se. All I can tell you is you should act as you want , but regardless the choice you'll make be ready to accept the consequences.
I did not mean to suggest she is a scammer. I meant to suggest she is a journalist or private investigator on the track of this scam.
In my opinion the best way to handle this is to warn all your customers about these scams (she will not be the only one! These guys earn millions doing these scams). Create flyers for example and hand them out or just place it somewhere where everyone can read. This person can then decide if she is scammed or not. I suggest talking to a lawyer what you suppose to do lawfully in this case.
Kaz
Kaz
09:55
Asking this kind of question on your actual network account is a bad idea. I highly recommend you ask a mod if you can remove the attribution somehow. And in the future, this is what alt-accounts are for.
"I have information about illegal activities obtained possibly illegally. What should I do?" definitely seems like a bit too much of a legal minefield to be on topic here. IANAL, but there's a chance that simply pretending you didn't read it and doing nothing may land you in legal trouble, but then so could acting on it (in any way, including placing fliers around). What is asking for legal advice?
@Dukeling thanks for editing and provided link. I will definetely use it next time. It was not obvious for me where to ask this question.
From the way your question is worded, it sounds like you noticed "she always scans Western Union money sendings" without any rule-breaking. Is that right? If that's right then Jeroen's comment/DCON's answer sound perfect. Western Union transfers are very frequently associated with scams, so it's perfectly plausible that you'd have some sort of policy to mention the risk
If not, though, I'd worry that you're putting yourself at legal risk by doing that. Handing someone a flyer that seems implausibly tailored to their current situation might not be believed
The legal issues at play truly are very conflicting. These sorts of "scams" are in fact very often moneylaundering. Depending on your jurisdiction you may be compelled to report suspicions of moneylaundering. Failure to do so might even be a criminal offense. It's a very tough situation to be in as I think you realise.
Probably a bit late now, but: consider whether it was a good idea to post a question in which you admit what is a sackable offence from an account you've used before.
09:55
How did you "notice" the "suspicious agreements"? I can imagine you'd recognize Western Union documents from across the room but suspicious agreements don't have "Suspicious Agreement" written in large letters at the top of them. It's hard to imagine that you could know what they were without violating your client's privacy.
@DavidRicherby watermark with text "original" all across the document. We did all the scannings. So client gave us paper and we scan it, of course we can see small details with a corner of the eye
@markus, a more realistic solution here other than "you'll all go to jail for reading the document!". Could you very simply strike up a conversation with the nice old lady What about "I saw from the telephone number you're sending something to Nigeria, say I visited there once" With luck she'll just immediately start telling you the whole thing. Then you can all just chime in "OMG, you're being scammed, I just saw a story about that on TV" and then show her some scam articles. You know? Why not do that?
hey @Markus can you tell us what country this is in? In many countries if you have accidentally seen evidence of "money laundering", you actually have to report it.
There is a lot of confusion here. It is exceptionally unlikely that a chain like Kinko's would offer customers any guarantee - whatsoever - of the privacy of their documents when the documents are being, for goodness sake, worked on by staff. Sure, there may be a staff rule that "employees shouldn't read or discuss things they scan." it is inconceivable there is (say) a "national law" that "employees at scanning stores must (what - - - have their minds blanked?) 'not remember' documents they are working on".
Do you have a policy that forbids using the service you provide for illegal actions or fraud of any kind? What do you do if you find out that someone is participating in illegal transactions?
@Jeroen Based on the number of upvotes on your comment, you should definitely have submitted it as an answer.
@Fattie, I used your comment as the starting basis for my own answer, which turned out to be surprisingly popular. :)

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