Walmart failed to properly train its employees to look out for fraud, and for years instructed them to process a payment even if they believed it was suspicious, investigators said.
The Federal Trade Commission filed a lawsuit against Walmart on Tuesday, accusing the retail giant of looking the other way while scammers hijacked its money transfer business, costing consumers hundreds of millions in losses.
“While scammers used its money transfer services to make off with cash, Walmart looked the other way and pocketed millions in fees,” Samuel Levine, director of the FTC’s bureau of consumer protection said in a statement. “Consumers have lost hundreds of millions, and the commission is holding Walmart accountable for letting fraudsters fleece its customers.”
In a statement, Walmart WMT, +0.02% called the action a “factually flawed and legally baseless civil lawsuit,” and said it would fight it aggressively in court. Between 2013 to 2018, more than $197 million in payments that were connected to frauds were sent or received at Walmart, the agency alleged.
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