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October 10th, 2023
As one of the largest retailers in the world, Walmart attracts its share of scammers trying to defraud others. Walmart scams can be simple or elaborate, and they may not come in the form that you expect. With so many people now shopping online, many of the scams are increasing as more people have Walmart online accounts. Walmart fraud is so widespread that virtually anyone can be a victim of a Walmart scam.
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1. Walmart Give Away Scam
Because Walmart is so large and so ubiquitous, people trust this brand. With a Walmart giveaway scam, that trust is used to get your personal information. There have been several widespread scams that involve fake giveaways, including an enormous one that spread virally through Facebook.
In this Walmart scam, the scammers created a false Walmart Facebook page and posted on it that Walmart had a giveaway that would give people an expensive gift bag full of items and would give those who shared this post a $75 voucher. To enter, people had to click a link and then submit their information. This gave the scammers personal information about countless people who trusted the Walmart name.
Another form of this is sending an email that says you will get a free item, something big-ticket if you fill out a survey and pay for the shipping for the product. Not only does this get people to give away their personal information, but it also takes their “shipping fee.”
2. Walmart Phishing Email
There are always Walmart phishing email scams going around, and it’s important to recognize what they look like. Generally, they come in an email that says it’s from the company. They may have logos and other information to try to make the email look legitimate. Sometimes they are simpler and only use the Walmart name. The email will either ask you to reply to it with your personal information, or it will have a link that you can click to fill out a form. These emails steal your information and may even give your computer malware.
One way to quickly tell that it’s a phishing email is that it asks you to click on a link or reply to it. Walmart has stated that they never send out emails like this. Their legitimate emails will ask you to go to their website rather than furnishing a link. Another way to tell is that these scam emails often have poor grammar and may have terrible graphics that are obviously not directly from the company.
A real email from Walmart will be from a real domain that ends in @walmart.com. It will also have your order number on it as well as order details. If an email simply says “your order” without these details, it is likely a scam email. You may get one of these when you didn’t even order anything. If you want to check whether an email is legitimate, you can go to your Walmart account and check on your order to make sure it went through.
3. Walmart Pandemic Relief Scam
There have been a few Walmart pandemic relief scams that have tried to take advantage of the situation. One of these is to send an email or a text message that tells them to fill out a form in order to get pandemic relief funds from either Walmart.org or the Walmart Foundation. Neither of these gives money straight to individuals, and they don’t send out messages asking for people to apply for pandemic payments or grants. These are always scams, and their links can be dangerous.
Another way that this scam plays out is to ask for money in exchange for a vaccine or to get a stimulus check from the government. They may ask you to send them a money order, wire cash, or they may ask for a gift card to be loaded and the number given to them. None of these requests are legitimate, and all are ways to cheat you out of money.
4. Walmart Fraud Alert Warnings
Walmart generally finds out about the larger scams and issues a Walmart fraud alert about them to help people be aware of them. One of the more common scams today is to pretend to be some type of government official who is about to arrest you or make you pay back taxes. They may demand that you buy Walmart gift cards and then read them the serial numbers for them. This is always a scam.
Another type of fraud is to call someone and tell them that a loved one is in big trouble and needs money quickly. This may also involve buying Walmart gift cards and giving the scammer the numbers from them.
5. Walmart Account Hacked
If you get an email saying that your Walmart account was hacked, don’t click a link to go to your account. Go to the website directly and check on your account. If your account really is hacked, you need to immediately contact customer support and tell them what happened. Accounts are pretty secure, so most of the time it’s just a scam. However, if you do get caught in a phishing scam, you might give away your account name and password, and then your account can be hacked. Try to get into the account to change your password if possible.
6. Walmart Gift Card Scam
Gift cards, or the promise of gift cards, are used in a lot of Walmart scams. One of the most common is to offer a Walmart gift card in exchange for something like being a mystery shopper or filling out a survey. You may get an email or a text saying that you’ve won a Walmart gift card in a contest. While Walmart does have contests, all of the winners get their notifications through registered mail. They never send a text or email about it. And they don’t send out unsolicited emails for this purpose.
By understanding how these scams work and how Walmart actually communicates with customers, you can avoid these scams.
