Sent Money to a Scammer From a Walmart Counter? An FTC Check Averaging $151 Is in the Mail. It Expires in 90 Days.

If you sent money from a Walmart counter between 2015 and 2024 to someone who turned out to be a scammer, check your mail. The FTC is sending 65,022 checks, and the clock on yours is 90 days.

That’s the whole job. Cash it. The rest of this is about why the check is so small, and how not to need another one.

Ten million dollars, split 65,022 ways

The FTC sued Walmart in June 2022. Its case summary says fraudsters used Walmart’s money transfer services to fleece people “out of hundreds of millions of dollars.” The FTC alleged Walmart failed to train its employees, warn customers, or secure the service against fraud.

Walmart settled in June 2025 for $10 million. It didn’t admit any of it. Its statement says it “will continue its program of preventing fraud induced money transfers.”

On October 15, the FTC announced the payout: more than $9.8 million to people who made eligible transfers between January 2015 and December 2024.

Do the division. That’s about $151 a check, on average.

Now line it up against the loss. If “hundreds of millions” means at least $200 million, a $10 million settlement returns five cents on the dollar at best. The other 95 cents left with the scammers years ago.

Christopher Mufarrige, who runs the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, explained why when the settlement landed. Money transfers are a scammer favorite “because once it’s sent, it’s gone for good.”

Do this

Cash or deposit the check within 90 days. The FTC says the deadline is printed on it. Questions go to the refund administrator, Rust Consulting, at 1-833-472-1990. Call that number, not one printed in a text or email.

Don’t pay anyone to get your money. The FTC says it never requires a payment or your account information to send a refund. A caller offering to “speed up” your Walmart check for a fee is the same scam coming around a second time, aimed at people who already lost money once.

Then change how you pay strangers. Counter money transfers work like handing over cash. If someone you’ve never met in person wants payment by money transfer, stop and verify who they are before you send a dime. Our breakdown of the cloned dealership site scam shows how the payment method decides whether you ever see the money again.

If it’s already happened, report it at ReportFraud.ftc.gov, the FTC’s own fraud reporting site.

Verdict: $151 isn’t justice. It’s still your money. Cash it before day 90.

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