Don’t rush - Don’t rush to make a payment if you’re uncertain about the legitimacy of a request.Seek advice - Talk to someone you trust, like your bank or credit provider, that you know is a legitimate company.Search for scams - You can also combine the name of the business/person with “scam,” “fraud,” “complaint,” or “review” in your online search, to see if anyone else has reported something similar happening to them.Conduct some research - Search the relevant authority or business online in order to check over things like registered postal addresses, official telephone numbers, and more.If you’re ever unsure, there are certain things you can ask yourself whether or not the situation you’ve found yourself in, especially over the phone, is the real thing: You’ll always be able to check with the relevant authorities and businesses if it’s legitimate, and they’ll never rush you to act. The number one rule of figuring out if you’re being targeted by a scam is simple: don’t pay for it if you’re not 100% certain. It’s alleged that Walmart’s lack of policy, its subsequent lack of enforcement of that policy, and the poor training of its staff have all contributed to the ease with which fraudsters have used their services in order to con people out of money.īut now they could be in serious trouble. That’s because once the money has been transferred into the criminal’s account, it’s near-enough irreversible - so the fraudster gets away with it. The Walmart scam brings to light how easy it is for scammers to get away with money, especially in the case of money transfers. While scams often throw up an urgent problem that needs fixing immediately (such as an IRS scam or other finance-related problem, such as a missed payment), often posing as a government official, scams come in a variety of ways, which is why it can be so hard to spot them. While scams come in many forms, illegal telemarketing and fraud are the primary methods scammers utilized Walmart’s poor policy system to spin money from unsuspecting members of the public. There are, in truth, many ways that fraudsters could have conned money from people under Walmart’s “look away” policy. The FTC has filed a case against Walmart, requesting that money be paid back to consumers who have been the victim of fraud under their watch, as well as civil injunctions to be carried out against Walmart. In a further damning statement, the FTC has alleged that Walmart’s policy of accepting payments - even if they were suspicious - could have amplified illegal activity and given fraudsters a safe haven to con consumers out of their hard-earned money. Not only would Walmart make higher retail sales through the provision of its financial services, but it also makes millions through the transactions that go through those services.Īnd Walmart could very well have made millions from the fraudulent and illegal activity that the company knew was going through its services, which is a clear violation of the law. There are potentially huge gains to be made from Walmart in terms of money transfers, in multiple ways. It’s still the source of speculation, but it has been alleged that Walmart knowingly looked the other way when it came to fraudulent transactions going through their money transfer services.īut why did they do it, and what does it matter? While also being home to one of the biggest retail operations in America, Walmart also runs as a hugely lucrative financial services provider, acting as the agent for third-party money transfer services such as MoneyGram. News broke a couple of weeks ago that Walmart may have been complicit in the fraud of millions of dollars taken from US consumers, according to the FTC.
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