Walmart hit with $10 million fine after allegedly enabling wire fraud

BENTONVILLE, Ark. (KNWA/KFTA) — Walmart has agreed to pay $10 million to settle Federal Trade Commission (FTC) allegations that it allowed scammers to use its in-store money transfer services to defraud consumers out of hundreds of millions of dollars across the United States.

The settlement follows a years-long investigation by the FTC, which claimed that Walmart failed to implement sufficient anti-fraud safeguards, including proper employee training and customer alerts.

According to the agency, these lapses enabled fraud-induced money transfers between 2013 and 2018 through Walmart's services and those operated in partnership with MoneyGram, Western Union, and Ria.

The FTC initially filed its complaint in June 2022 and amended it a year later to include alleged violations of the Telemarketing Sales Rule. A federal district court ultimately dismissed the telemarketing-related claims in July 2024.

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However, in November 2024, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals granted Walmart permission to appeal parts of the district court's rulings related to the core fraud claims.

Under the terms of the final order, approved unanimously by the Commission in a 3-0 vote, Walmart must comply with a series of new requirements designed to prevent similar fraud schemes in the future. These provisions prohibit the company from:

* Offering wire transfer services without implementing measures to detect and prevent fraud

* Processing transfers it knows, or deliberately avoids knowing, are connected to fraudulent activity

* Supporting telemarketers who use cash-to-cash transfers for payments

* Assisting telemarketers who request upfront payments for loans or credit offers

More information about the settlement and the final order is available on the FTC's official website.