You Need To Beware Of This Walmart Scam
Scammers are targeting US residents by posing as Walmart and pretending to hire them as secret shoppers only to rob them of thousands of dollars.
Criminals use several schemes to trick unsuspecting folks into giving them private information. This includes posing as legitimate businesses, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigations. Additionally, a report from security company Zscaler said there was a 29% increase in phishing attacks in 2021 compared to the year before. But 2022 saw the retail sector experience its largest rise in fraud, with Walmart at the center of a new scam.
The Walmart scam comes from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where Linda De Simone received a letter recruiting her for a secret shopper opportunity with the retailer. She also got two checks (on October 1st and October 8th), with instructions telling her what to do with them as part of her new role. The same thing happened to Bianca Baluyut on September 16th. But when she failed to act, the California resident received a phone call from a person claiming to be an associate from the store.
Speaking about the Walmart scam to ABC10 News, Baluyut said the criminals almost had her fooled. “It looked very real and I kind of thought like, wow, why me? Because $3,345 is a lot of money,” she told the publication. She also was instructed to deposit the money in her bank, take out three money orders at the store and grade the chain’s employees on specific criteria.
But it was the phrase “money orders” that triggered alarm bells for Baluyut. So instead of following the instructions, the woman reported the incident to the police. If she fell for the Walmart scam, the California resident would have been robbed of $3,000. This is because it would have taken a few days for the check to be flagged as fraudulent. And by then the money would have already been lost.
Fortunately, Walmart lists secret shopping as a common scam on its Fraud Alerts webpage, explaining that it does not use this type of service. “Unfortunately, bad actors occasionally take advantage of our reputation to carry out these kinds of scams,” a spokesperson for the company told ABC10. The retailer never solicits mystery or secret shoppers via email, mail, or any other public means.
Walmart warns that some shoppers are even tricked into giving their personal bank account information as part of the scam. This can make them victims of identity theft. Although it’s easy to be targeted by secret shopper fraud, there are a few things to look out for. According to the retailer, these fake communications are often associated with fictional departments or branding initiatives with letters or emails coming from addresses such as [email protected].
Moreover, Walmart says, unlike the scam, it requires any potential employee to go through a hiring process. This includes legal paperwork and drug testing. The secret shopper scams don’t follow that same requirement. The company also advises folks to never deposit a check received in the mail from a mystery shopping company. No legitimate business will pay in advance and ask you to send back a portion of the money. “Remember, if it sounds too good to believe, it is!” the retailer says.
