The Associated Press
The Federal Trade Commission said Tuesday that it has sued Walmart for allegedly allowing its money transfer services to be used by scam artists who stole “hundreds of millions of dollars” from customers.
In its lawsuit, the agency alleged that for years, Walmart failed to properly secure the money transfer services offered at its stores. The agency said Walmart didn’t properly train its employees, failed to alert customers, and used procedures that allowed fraudsters to cash out at its stores. The FTC is asking the court to order Walmart to return money to consumers and to impose civil penalties on the company.
“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 announcing the action.