$WMT: FTC Says Firm Abetted Scam Artists

WSJ headline: FTC Accuses Walmart of Letting Scammers Use Its Money-Transfer Services

Sub-headline: Lawsuit says retailer’s systems facilitated nearly $200 million in payments that were investigated for fraud; Walmart calls suit ‘factually misguided’

https://archive.ph/VlU8X

The complaint, filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, alleges that Walmart’s money-transfer service was used to facilitate scams such as impersonating the Internal Revenue Service or other government entities that request money, the FTC said. Between 2013 and 2018 over $197 million in payments sent or received at Walmart were the subject of fraud complaints, it said. The agency said Walmart was aware that scammers were using its systems and didn’t do enough to stop it.

“The company did not properly train its employees, failed to warn customers, and used procedures that allowed fraudsters to cash out at its stores,” said the FTC in a statement.

1 Like