Walmart has agreed to pay $ 10 million to resolve a civil lawsuit from the Federal Trade Commission of the United States that accuses the world’s largest retailer of ignoring the warning signs that scammers used their money transfer services to fleece consumers of hundreds of millions of dollars.
The agreement was filed on Friday at the Federal Court of Chicago and requires the approval of the United States District Judge, Manish Shah.
Walmart also agreed not to process money transfers that suspect they are fraudulent, or help sellers and telemarketers that believe they are using their services to commit fraud.
“Electronic money transfers are one of the most common forms in which the scammers tell consumers to send them money, because once they are sent, it has gone forever,” said Christopher Mufarrige, director of the FTC consumer protection office. “Companies that provide these services must train their employees to comply with the law and work to protect consumers.”
The Arkansas -based retailer did not admit or denied irregularities when agreeing to be established. Walmart did not immediately respond to requests for comments.
In his June 2022 complaint, the FTC accused Walmart of turning a blind eye to the scammers who used their money transfer services to withdraw in their stores.
Walmart acts as an agent for money transfers by companies such as Moneygram and Western Union. Money can be difficult to track once delivered.
The FTC said the scammers used many schemes that included impersonating agents of the internal income service, impersonating family members who needed the grandparents’ money to avoid jail and tell the victims who won lotteries or raffle, but they had rates to collect their earnings.
Shah dismissed part of the FTC case last July, but that the regulator pursues the rest. Walmart appealed on that decision. Friday’s agreement would end the appeal.
