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Why can we cancel cheques, but not Western Union transfers?
When you send money with Western Union, it is essentially a cash transaction.  You supply Western Union with the name of the recipient and a location.  Your recipient then shows up at a Western Union office, shows some identification, and receives cash.  At this point, the transaction is over.  It is impossible to retract it at this point, because Western Union has already handed out cash, and they have no way of contacting the recipient any longer. This is the reason why you might want to legitimately use Western Union.  It is an instant way to send cash to anyone anywhere in the world.  Let's say that your best friend is stuck in a foreign land and desperately needs money.  You can give him cash just as fast as each of you can get to a Western Union office, and you don't even need a local bank account to do so. Unfortunately, however, the nature of the service also makes it useful for scammers.  You should never use this service to pay for something from someone you don't know, because there are absolutely no safeguards. As mentioned by user662852 in the comments, you can indeed cancel a Western Union money transfer if you do so before the money is picked up by the recipient.  But after they pick it up, the cash is gone.