Wired scammers money? You could be entitled to part of $586 million

Most scammers ask people to wire them money, and anyone who fell victim to their scheme may be entitled to part of $586 million.

The Federal Trade Commission has accused Western Union of "looking the other way" when victims wired scammers money.

Officials with the commission believe Western Union was aware of the problem and received hundreds of thousands of complaints from people who claimed to have wired money based on bogus lottery winnings, prizes, family emergencies, online dating and other scams, WSOC reports.

Western Union agreed to settle the case for $586 million.

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And now people can request a piece of that money if they wired funds to con artists between Jan. 1, 2004 and Jan. 19, 2017.

Victims must file a claim before Feb. 12, 2018.

Be mindful that scammer may try to make a buck on this process too.

Remember, no one will call you to talk about your claim or gather your personal information over the phone.