Walmart Fined $10 Million for US Money Transfer Fraud

Walmart has agreed to pay a $10 million settlement to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) following allegations that it allowed scammers to exploit its in-store money transfer services to defraud customers out of hundreds of millions of dollars from 2013 to 2018. The FTC's investigation found that Walmart failed to implement basic anti-fraud safeguards, including proper employee training and customer warnings, and in some cases, employees were instructed to complete transactions even when fraud was suspected. Walmart acts as an agent for multiple money transfer services like MoneyGram, Western Union, and Ria and also offers transfers under its own brand. The settlement prohibits Walmart from processing transfers it knows or consciously avoids knowing are fraudulent and from supporting telemarketers who use cash-to-cash transfers for payments or request upfront payments for loans or credit. Walmart has committed to improving its fraud detection measures and employee training to prevent similar issues in the future. The FTC emphasized the importance of companies providing money transfer services to protect consumers by training their employees and implementing effective anti-fraud policies.