Walmart Settles FTC Money Transfer Fraud Case

Walmart has agreed to pay a $10 million settlement after the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) alleged that the company allowed scammers to exploit its money transfer services, defrauding consumers of hundreds of millions of dollars from 2013 to 2018. The FTC accused Walmart of failing to implement essential anti-fraud measures, including employee training and customer warnings, which enabled widespread scams through money transfers with MoneyGram, Western Union, and Ria. As part of the settlement, Walmart must comply with new requirements that prohibit processing or assisting in transfers known or suspected to be fraudulent and supporting telemarketers using cash-to-cash transfers for questionable payments. Walmart neither admitted nor denied the allegations and stated it shares the FTC's goal of consumer protection. The settlement follows a multi-year investigation, subsequent legal appeals, and the dismissal of related telemarketing claims by a federal court. The final order was unanimously approved by the FTC's commissioners and aims to prevent similar fraud in the future.