There have been an increased amount of solicitations from companies/individuals requesting to wire transfer money internationally/cash domestically. Are there any regulations that prohibit this? Once the wire has been recieved, instructions are to withdraw/cash checks and wire funds via western union. Is this a scam?

Any time one receives a request -- via email or otherwise -- from someone with whom one does not have a business relationship of some type -- to wire funds or accept a wire of funds, one's scam radar should be fully active. And that's especially the case when the request includes a request that one send any part of those funds anywhere, for any purpose, under any circumstances.

The first question one should ask oneself is, why would this unknown person be asking me to do this?

Yes it is a scam.

I concur. Big time scam.

Is it just me, or does it sound like they're trying to launder funds here as well?

The idea of asking someone to receive a wire, then wire some of the funds to a third party sure sounds like they're trying to muddy the trail and hide it as legitimate transactions.

They have gained access to someone's account, they wire the money to your account and you Western Union the money out, the trail ends at your account, the authorities will be speaking to you. New twist on a old scam, they are using wires instead of counterfiet checks.

Isn't sad that people actually do this stuff and get ripped off? I had some friends who sold a Harley on e-bay and they received a cashier's check via mail and then were asked to return the amount that was accidentially over paid. The check of course never did clear. How many people accidentially overpay and by a few thousand dollars?