Estimated reading time: 8 minutes.
Key facts
- What is happening: The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced on October 15, 2026 that it is sending 65,022 checks totaling more than $9.8 million to people harmed by fraud involving Walmart money transfers.
- Who gets a check: The FTC's refund page says the checks go to people who completed eligible money transfers at Walmart between January 2015 and December 2024.
- No application described: The FTC announcement and refund page do not describe any claim form. The agency is mailing checks.
- Deadline: The FTC asks recipients to cash their checks within 90 days.
- Questions: Call the refund administrator, Rust Consulting, Inc., at 1-833-472-1990.
- Where the money came from: A $10 million monetary judgment against Walmart in FTC v. Walmart Inc., No. 1:22-cv-3372, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, resolved by a stipulated order announced June 20, 2025.
- No admission: Walmart neither admitted nor denied the FTC's allegations.
- Not a class action: This is a government refund program. There is no class, no opt-out and no claims period.
In this article
- What the FTC announced
- Who the parties are
- How money transfer fraud works
- What the FTC alleged
- How the case ended
- Who is getting checks and how much
- How to handle your check safely
- What remains unclear
- Frequently asked questions
What the FTC announced
The FTC said on October 15, 2026 that it is sending payments totaling more than $9.8 million to consumers harmed by Walmart's alleged failure to stop scammers who used the company's money transfer services. The agency is mailing 65,022 checks.
The money comes from a settlement the FTC reached with Walmart in June 2025. That settlement ended a lawsuit the agency filed in 2022. The FTC had accused Walmart of failing to put effective anti-fraud policies in place, failing to train its employees properly, and failing to warn customers about fraud tied to money transfers.
The FTC's refund page for the case states the eligibility window plainly. Checks are going to people who completed eligible money transfers at Walmart between January 2015 and December 2024. The FTC has not published the rules it used to decide which transfers were eligible.
This is not a class action
No one needs to file a claim, opt out or object. The FTC chose recipients and is mailing checks. If you have questions about whether you should have received one, call the refund administrator listed on the FTC's Walmart refund page.
Who the parties are
The Federal Trade Commission. The FTC is the federal agency that enforces consumer protection law, including the ban on unfair or deceptive business practices in Section 5 of the FTC Act. When it wins or settles a case, it can use the money it collects to pay refunds. According to the FTC's refund FAQ, it hires private companies to send the payments.
Walmart Inc. Walmart is best known as a retailer, but it also offers financial services in its stores. The FTC's 2022 announcement listed money transfers, credit cards, reloadable debit cards, check cashing and bill payments. For money transfers, Walmart acts as an agent for MoneyGram, Ria and Western Union. It also offers services under its own brand names, including "Walmart2Walmart" and "Walmart2World." According to the FTC's complaint, tens of millions of money transfers are sent or received at Walmart stores each year, and Walmart employees process them.
Rust Consulting, Inc. Rust Consulting is the refund administrator for this program. It is one of five companies the FTC lists as refund contractors on its FAQ page.
How money transfer fraud works
A money transfer lets a person hand over cash or another payment at one location so that a recipient can pick it up somewhere else, often within minutes. The FTC said in 2022 that scammers favor these services because the money is nearly impossible to get back once it has been picked up.
The FTC's complaint described several common schemes that relied on transfers sent or received at Walmart. They included IRS impersonation calls, "grandparent" scams in which a caller pretends to be a relative in trouble, and sweepstakes scams that demand a fee before a prize is paid. In each one, the victim is told to send money by wire transfer, and the scammer collects it at a pickup location.
The case against Walmart did not claim that Walmart ran these scams. It claimed that Walmart's stores were an easy place for scammers to send and collect fraud payments and that Walmart did not do enough to stop it.
What the FTC alleged
The FTC sued Walmart in June 2022. Based on fraud databases kept by MoneyGram, Western Union and Ria, the agency said that from 2013 to 2018, more than $197 million in payments that were the subject of fraud complaints were sent or received at Walmart. It said more than $1.3 billion in related payments may also have been connected to fraud.
The FTC's main allegations were these:
- Paying out suspicious transfers. The complaint cited a Walmart employee reference guide that said, "If you suspect fraud, complete the transaction." The FTC said Walmart did not begin training employees to deny fraudulent payouts until at least May 2017, and then only at some locations.
- Weak anti-fraud policies. According to the complaint, Walmart had no written anti-fraud or consumer protection program until November 2014, and it often failed to follow the programs it later adopted.
- Large cash pickups. The FTC said Walmart pays out even large transfers in cash, and that scammers often collected money using fake IDs.
- Missing warnings. The complaint said many stores did not display required fraud warnings, and that Walmart replaced a paper "send form" containing warnings with a printout that had only small print.
- Poor training. The FTC said training was often contradictory or unclear, and that some employees took cash tips from scammers or were involved in scams themselves.
- Telemarketing payments. Since 2016, the FTC's Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR) has banned using cash-to-cash money transfers to pay for purchases sold by phone. The complaint said Walmart did not take steps to comply.
These were allegations. No court found that Walmart broke the law.
How the case ended
The case did not go well for the FTC in court at first. The FTC amended its complaint in June 2023. In July 2024, the district court dismissed the FTC's Telemarketing Sales Rule claim for a second time. The FTC said that ruling was "a significant hurdle" to getting money back for consumers. In November 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit gave Walmart permission to appeal certain rulings.
On June 20, 2025, the FTC announced a stipulated order, a settlement written as a court order that both sides agree to. The Commission approved it by a 3-0 vote. The order, in the case before U.S. District Judge Manish S. Shah:
- entered a $10 million judgment against Walmart and required payment within seven days;
- bars Walmart from providing money transfer services without taking timely and appropriate action to detect and prevent fraud-induced transfers;
- bars Walmart from sending or paying out a transfer it knows, or consciously avoids knowing, is fraud-induced; and
- bars Walmart from substantially assisting sellers or telemarketers it knows, or consciously avoids knowing, are accepting cash-to-cash transfers for telemarketing sales or asking consumers to pay in advance for loans.
The order says Walmart neither admits nor denies the complaint's allegations. It also requires Walmart to give the FTC customer information it requests for refunds within 14 days. The FTC notes that a stipulated order has the force of law once a judge approves and signs it.
Cash the check within 90 days
The FTC's Walmart refund page asks recipients to cash their checks within 90 days. Its general refund FAQ says expired checks can sometimes be reissued if money remains, so call Rust Consulting if yours has lapsed.
Who is getting checks and how much
The FTC is mailing 65,022 checks that together total more than $9.8 million. The agency did not publish individual amounts or explain the formula it used. Dividing the total by the number of checks gives an average of roughly $150, but individual checks may be larger or smaller.
The FTC's general refund FAQ explains how the agency usually works. Court orders often require defendants to hand over customer lists. The agency can also search its Consumer Sentinel complaint database for reports about a company. In most FTC cases, money is split on a pro rata basis, meaning each person receives the same percentage of their loss. The FAQ does not say which of these methods was used for Walmart.
The original fraud figures in the complaint covered 2013 to 2018. The refund program covers transfers completed from January 2015 through December 2024. The FTC has not explained why the refund window differs from the complaint's data period.
For other money you may be owed, see our list of class action cases you can join. Readers who sent money through Western Union because of a scam may also want to read about the separate Western Union remission program and its December 31 deadline.
How to handle your check safely
The FTC says it never requires upfront fees to get a refund. Its FAQ says it never asks for sensitive information such as a Social Security number or bank account information, and that any FTC refund program is listed at ftc.gov/refunds with the administrator's name and phone number.
Scammers sometimes pretend to be the FTC, especially after a refund announcement. If someone calls, texts or emails claiming you must pay a fee or confirm your bank details to receive a Walmart refund, it is a scam.
The FTC FAQ also says it does not require you to give up any rights you may have under federal or state law to get a refund. For tax questions, the FTC suggests a tax advisor. It generally does not issue 1099 forms, and includes one with the check when it is required to report the payment to the IRS.
Verify before you call
Use only the number the FTC lists for this program, Rust Consulting at 1-833-472-1990. The FTC will not ask you to pay anything or share bank account details to receive your check.
What remains unclear
Several details are not public. The FTC has not said how it chose the 65,022 recipients, how it calculated each check, or what happens to money left over from this distribution. Its general FAQ says leftover money may fund a second round of payments, and money that cannot be distributed goes to the U.S. Treasury. Whether a second Walmart round will happen is not known.
The FTC also has not said how many people lost money through Walmart transfers but will not receive a check. The refund total of about $9.8 million is far smaller than the $197 million in complaint-linked losses the FTC cited in 2022.
Frequently asked questions
Who is getting a Walmart refund check from the FTC?
The FTC says checks are going to people who completed eligible money transfers at Walmart between January 2015 and December 2024. The agency has not published the full eligibility rules.
Do I need to file a claim?
No claim process has been announced. The FTC is mailing checks directly to recipients it identified.
How much is each check?
The FTC did not publish individual amounts. The total is more than $9.8 million across 65,022 checks, which averages about $150, but amounts vary.
How long do I have to cash the check?
The FTC asks recipients to cash checks within 90 days.
Did Walmart admit wrongdoing?
No. The 2025 stipulated order says Walmart neither admits nor denies the allegations. No court found that Walmart broke the law.
Is this related to a class action?
No. This money comes from an FTC enforcement case, not a private class action. There is nothing to opt out of or object to.