If a scammer ever had you send money from a Walmart counter, the FTC says it’s mailing refund checks, and each one has 90 days to be cashed.
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Chocolate moose.
The check that looks like a scam
An envelope shows up with a check in it from a company you’ve never heard of. Most of us have learned to be suspicious of that. Good.
But some of those checks are real this fall. And the people getting them have more reason than anyone not to trust them.
The grandson who calls from jail and needs bail money. The sweetheart overseas who just needs help with one more fee. I’ve seen so many men and women who were older, lonely and most needed their retirement savings fall for these scams. It never ends well.
That’s why I wanted to pass this along.
You may have seen a story this morning about the Federal Trade Commission sending checks to people who were scammed through Walmart money transfers.
That’s real. The FTC says it is mailing 65,022 checks totaling more than $9.8 million to people who sent eligible money transfers at Walmart between January 2015 and December 2024.
The money comes from a $10 million settlement Walmart reached with the FTC in June 2025. The FTC alleged Walmart didn’t train its employees properly, didn’t warn customers, and didn’t have good enough anti-fraud procedures for money transfers. Back when it sued, the FTC said scammers used Walmart locations to collect money from grandparent, romance and other scams.
So how would you know if a check like that is the real thing?
Start with what the FTC won’t do. The FTC says it never requires people to pay money or provide account information to get a payment. It will never threaten you, tell you that you must transfer money to “get a refund,” or promise you a prize. Its page lists no form to fill out. The checks just come in the mail.
So a real one asks you for nothing. A fake one always gets around to asking for something.
How much is in one? The FTC hasn’t said. Divide the total by the number of checks and it averages out to about $150. I know. That may be a lot less than what was taken. But money sent this way is usually gone for good, and the head of the FTC’s consumer protection bureau said exactly that when Walmart settled: “once it’s sent, it’s gone for good.” So any of it coming back is rare.
Here’s the one thing I’d do. If you, or someone in your family, ever sent money from a Walmart counter to someone who turned out to be a scammer, watch the mail for the next few weeks. Before you toss an envelope you don’t recognize, look up the FTC’s refund page yourself and call the number you find there, not the one on the letter. And if the check is real, cash it within the 90 days printed on it.
If it happened to someone you love, this might be an easier way to bring it up. A check is a lot easier to talk about than the loss.
I put the details in my guide, including what the FTC’s pages don’t say.
Anyway, I wanted you to hear it from me before one of those envelopes ends up in the trash.
Have you ever gotten a check or a letter you were sure was a scam, and it turned out to be real? Share it in the comments so we can all learn from it. I read every comment.
Getting taken by a scam isn’t a character flaw. It happens to careful people on a bad day, often to people who thought they were helping someone they loved. Sometimes, years later, a little of it finds its way back. Have a good weekend, and I’ll see you Monday.
— Steve
Also on the site since yesterday: my money advice for strippers, escorts and OnlyFans creators, my lawyer dropped me and kept part of my deposit. Can they do that?, what happens to student loans when the borrower dies, if your paycheck depends on a work permit, the money calls to make before it expires, and the University of Phoenix settlement isn’t student loan forgiveness.
On the podcast this week: Damon and I walk through the 10 things you must do after bankruptcy.
SEE A SCAM? SAY SOMETHING. If one has landed on you or someone you love, tell me at tips@getoutofdebt.org. The ones that can warn other people may show up here. Leave out account numbers and passwords.
If any of this was new to you, somebody you know hasn’t heard it either. It’s free at yourmoneyactually.com, and I don’t sell the list. The places I actually use for my own money, and what I get out of telling you, are on one page where they’ll always be.
This is what I’m telling friends like you over coffee. But remember, you do you.
Had a weird check sent to me from Amazon, to a foreign country no less - apparantly there was a class action law suit, and the checks are real? Only you can’t actually deposit them to non-US banks. Seemed like 100% scam initially, but after some poking around, it might be real.