Cell phone remittances - new way for IAs to send money home
Western Union/Radio Shack discover new way to profit from illegal immigration: cell phone remittances (Cecilia Kang)
Cecilia Kang of the Washington Post offers "Three Firms Combine on Cellphone Remittances": http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... d=sec-tech , a barely-rewritten press release about a new scheme from Western Union. Immigrants/illegal aliens will be able to buy a phone from Trumpet Mobile at Radio Shack. The phone acts as a bit of a debit card (a "mobile wallet"), in that money can be added to it in the U.S. and then part of the balance can be sent to friends or relatives in their home country.
Needless to say, the WaPo doesn't discuss how many or most of those using this service will be illegal aliens and thus the money they'll be transferring will have been earned illegally. Nor do they discuss the steps that Western Union has taken to make sure that they continue making a profit off that flow.
http://lonewacko.com/blog/archives/007597.html