How to send money | Wired

So you have to send some money. Maybe you want to put a few $20 bills in a birthday card. Perhaps this is a larger payment for some completely unclear services that are provided off the books. Either way, it can be difficult to send paper money without worrying that it might mysteriously slip from your envelope into someone else’s pocket.

“Sending cash through the mail or something like that is probably one of the less efficient options for moving money,” says Kevin L. Matthews, a financial consultant who advised the company. Wired before. “It’s not necessarily something I’d recommend.”

The problem, he says, is that if something goes wrong and you lose cash, there’s nothing you can do about it. There are better ways to transfer money, but if you absolutely have to move your coins from one piggy bank to another, here are the best ways to do it without getting robbed.

Don’t get scammed

To be clear up front, you shouldn’t just put a bunch of money in the mail and hope for the best. There’s a very good chance it will get lost, stolen, or end up in the hands of someone you don’t mean to.

And to that last point, if you’re sending someone any kind of payment, ask yourself these basic questions: Do you personally know the person you’re sending money too? Have you checked the agency that claims to move your money to the right place? Is there any good printing? Does sending money seem too good to be true? If any of these questions stop you, it’s likely a scam.

Matthews says scams are evolving rapidly, and are becoming more difficult to detect all the time. “Rule number one is, don’t send any money to anyone you don’t know. And don’t be afraid to call and check. That’s always an option. Be careful of the details, verify the information, and just make sure it makes sense. Because usually once that money goes out the door… They won’t come back at all.

There are lots of ways to protect yourself and your loved ones Get ripped off And protect yourself From artificial intelligence scam calls. (Grandma, I promise, charter.bot Text messages asking you to send gift cards are not a legitimate way to pay your cable bill.)

Paper trail

There are ways to send cash safely. If you’re only sending a small amount, such as putting a fiver in a birthday card, using the snail mail system is probably fine. You risk losing it, as with anything you mail. But if you care about the money getting where it needs to go, you should insure it or send a money order.

In the United States, you are allowed to ship cash amounts up to $500 without having to register it with the US Postal Service. It’s not technically illegal to send more than that via US mail, but it’s also not a good idea. If you need to send cash and don’t mind Uncle Sam knowing about it, you can Secure your package With a value of up to $50,000. There are some caveats, though.