SAN DIEGO -- After spotting large revenue made by money wiring services, the I-Team went undercover to see why companies that earn so much are doing so little to protect consumers from fraud.

In 2009, Western Union hauled in more than $5 billion and MoneyGram 's take was $1 billion.

"Most of the people that have this happen to them, don't talk about it," said Mark Barone, of Fallbrook, whose father Norm Barone claimed he was ripped off in a convincing scam. "They're embarrassed.

Norm Barone, 80, said, "It plays really on your emotions," noting how he received a call saying his grandson Justin was jailed in Canada and needed money for bail.

The group allegedly involved in the scam pretended to be the police, convincing Barone to wire $6,000 via Western Union for Justin's bail money. However, when Mark Barone tried to get some help for his father from Western Union, he said he didn't get any help. "They were very, very uncooperative," he said.

The I-Team learned anyone can be scammed, and according to the FBI, all ages are susceptible. Popular scams include the lottery scam, where victims are asked to wire money to cover fees to collect their winnings; the secret shopper scam, where victims send off their own money after cashing the company's bad check; and the scam Barone fell for: the grandparents scam. Many of these cons rely on money wires.

The biggest players, Western Union and MoneyGram, have signed agreements, promising state agencies they'll aggressively prevent fraud.

The I-Team tested these companies and the fraud agreements by going undercover sending $1,000 KGO-TV's investigative unit in San Francisco. KGO sent the I-Team $1,000 in return. The money wires were sent again and again between San Francisco and San Diego.

In San Diego, undercover tester Frank told the clerk he had won the lotto and needed to send a money order to San Francisco to pay fees on his winnings. Frank wasn't warned that he might be getting scammed. But the MoneyGram and Western Union representatives told the I-Team they work at preventing fraud and will educate and warn consumers.

"They all say, 'It's not my responsibility,' and I'm saying 'Yes, it is,'" said San Diego Deputy District Attorney Paul Greenwood.

In San Francisco, the undercover tester told the clerk she needed to send a money wire to San Diego as part of a secret shopper job, which is a common scam. Again, she was not warned. In San Diego, the clerks didn't suspect any scams and provided no warnings, except at a Western Union in San Ysidro where a clerk and manager told our tester, "It sounds like a scam," said tester Frank.

"I am looking at this and I do think Western Union and MoneyGram can be doing so much more," said Greenwood.

The Federal Trade Commission recently settled with MoneyGram for ignoring widespread fraud over its network. MoneyGram agreed to pay $18 million. In response, Willard Hart of MoneyGram's fraud prevention unit said, "We're working very hard to educate consumers about the scams; working very hard to educate our agents and their employees about the scams and we're working very hard to stop the scams from going through our network."

The I-Team has alerted the companies about the results of station's test.