Western Union money transfer requires receipts for the proof of where money came from

Last Saturday, I visited Olten Bahnhof to send money to the lawyer in the US. I thought Western Union would be the easiest choice as their network is known pretty well around the world. You can use Western Union money transfer at the exchange counter in Swiss train stations. Not all train station offer services of Western Union, but bigger stations do it.
When I visited the exchange counter, the clerk started communicating with me in English. He asked me where I was sending money. I told him it was for the lawyer in the United States. He suggested to send money using bank transfer. I told him about the problem I had sending money with SWIFT - my bank needed IBAN number even it accepts SWIFT. He then checked my Swiss ID, and told me that my occupation and the purpose of sending money and such. I explained him I need to send money to my lawyer to get further evidences for my case. He told me that he needs see the receipt of where my money came from. Well, it was from my Japanese bank account. I could just withdraw some from my bank account in Switzerland, but it was Saturday, and I had the withdrawal limitation at ATM.

I visited Sälipark to for shopping. I did not wanted to spend whole time in Olten for just the money transfer. Knowing some new things is good for living in Switzerland. At least, I could now what things are sold in where if I visit new shopping malls. In the shopping mall, I tried to withdraw money and I forgot the account number for a bank. If you have some bank cards, it is quite hard to memorize all if you do not use the card for withdrawal. I have that account only for money saving in an emergency case. I just learned that forgetting the password does not help in the real emergency. What an irony. I tried several possible passwords, but it did not work. There were sudden increase of the people waiting for that particular ATM machine. I guess the organized stalkers should have reported this suspcious use of the ATM. I just wrote down here, so that people can check who would actually report it to police or somewhere for reward or something.

I sent money using my Japanese credit card after I checked the maximum. Things go suspicious but as far as who I am contacting and what went wrong is visible in the form in my blog, I think the organized stalkers have problem making up suspicions.

For the people who might want to send money using Western Union, you might need to keep the receipt for sending moneny. Or you would get trouble showing the proof of the source of where money came from. I am not sure if this Western Union policy is to give a good image on Swiss bank secrecy which FBI tracked down recently.