If you’re searching for a Walmart gift card lawsuit, there are a few real ones and one widely shared fake. Federal prosecutors ran a remission program that returned nearly $4 million to people whose Walmart gift cards were drained by scammers, but claims closed on July 14, 2023.1Top Class Actions. Walmart Gift Card Scam Remission Private class actions over tampered cards on store shelves are still moving through the courts. And the “$750 Walmart gift card settlement” circulating on social media is not a settlement at all; it is a scam.2Walmart. Fraud Alerts
The DOJ Remission Program for Drained Gift Cards
The U.S. Department of Justice filed a civil forfeiture action in the Western District of Arkansas, United States of America vs. $3,958,060.84 United States Currency (Case No. 5:22-cv-05026-TLB), targeting roughly $4 million in Walmart gift card balances the company had frozen after detecting fraud patterns. The DOJ then created a remission program to return that money to the people who had been scammed.1Top Class Actions. Walmart Gift Card Scam Remission
The underlying fraud followed a familiar pattern. Scammers posed as relatives in trouble or as government agencies and businesses, then pressured victims into buying Walmart gift cards worth $500 to $1,000 and reading off the card numbers. Walmart’s fraud systems flagged and froze the compromised balances.3Consumer-Action.org. Walmart Gift Card Remission
Eligibility was narrow. Only consumers who purchased Walmart gift cards between April 1, 2016, and July 31, 2017, and then handed card access to scammers could file. Payments were based on the amount loaded onto each compromised card, minus any refund the victim had already received from a bank or other source, and did not cover incidental costs like money transfer fees.4Yahoo Finance. Walmart to Pay $4 Million to Gift Card Scam Victims The claims window closed on July 14, 2023, and Gilardi and Co. LLC administered the process for the DOJ.5U.S. Department of Justice. Remission
If your loss falls outside those dates or you missed the filing deadline, this program cannot help you.
Class Actions Over Tampered Gift Cards on Store Shelves
A separate group of lawsuits targets a different problem: gift cards that were physically compromised before you ever bought them.
Foster v. Walmart
Foster, et al. v. Walmart Inc., et al. (Case No. 4:19-cv-00571-BSM), filed in August 2019 in the Eastern District of Arkansas, describes a shelf-tampering scheme. Criminals peel the security tape off gift cards on display, record the card numbers and PINs, replace the tape, and put the cards back. When a customer later loads money onto one of those cards, the thief drains the balance using the copied credentials.6Top Class Actions. Walmart Class Action Says Gift Cards Are Tampered With
The plaintiffs allege Walmart was negligent for failing to secure cards on the sales floor, failing to warn buyers about the risk, and refusing to refund or replace drained balances. The complaint also alleges Walmart sometimes deactivated cards it suspected had been compromised, leaving legitimate purchasers unable to use the money they had loaded. It seeks actual, statutory, exemplary, and punitive damages, along with injunctive relief. The research does not indicate a final resolution.6Top Class Actions. Walmart Class Action Says Gift Cards Are Tampered With
Lyons v. Walmart
A newer case, Lyons v. Walmart, Inc.; Green Dot Corporation; & Green Dot Bank (Case No. 2:23-cv-00616), was filed in October 2023 in the Middle District of Alabama. Carol P. Lyons alleges she paid $419.76 for four $100 Visa prepaid gift cards at Walmart for her grandchildren, only to find every card carried a zero balance when the children tried to use them.7ClassAction.org. Lyons v. Walmart Inc. et al.
The complaint names Walmart along with Green Dot, the card issuer, and alleges both were aware of widespread barcode-swapping and card-swapping schemes but failed to secure packaging or refund victims. The proposed class covers all U.S. purchasers of Green Dot-issued Visa prepaid cards sold at Walmart that were subject to unauthorized third-party use before the buyer’s first transaction.7ClassAction.org. Lyons v. Walmart Inc. et al.
Neither class action has produced a settlement fund open to claims. Consumers with drained-card losses can watch the dockets but should not expect a payout in the near term.
The FTC Money Transfer Case Is a Related but Separate Matter
In June 2022 the Federal Trade Commission sued Walmart in the Northern District of Illinois (FTC v. Walmart, Inc., Case No. 1:22-cv-03372), alleging the retailer allowed scammers to exploit its in-store money transfer services to defraud consumers of hundreds of millions of dollars between 2013 and 2018. The FTC said Walmart failed to train employees, failed to warn customers, and kept procedures that made it easy for fraudsters to pick up cash at its stores.8FTC. Walmart to Pay $10 Million to Settle FTC Allegations
Walmart called the lawsuit “unfounded” and said its proprietary anti-fraud tool, STaR, had blocked at least 450,000 suspicious transactions worth more than $740 million as of May 2022.9Walmart. FTC Lawsuit Against Walmart Is Unfounded On June 20, 2025, the company agreed to a $10 million stipulated final order that bars it from processing money transfers it knows or consciously avoids knowing are fraud-induced, and from assisting telemarketers who accept cash-to-cash transfers for goods or services. The FTC voted 3-0 to approve the order.8FTC. Walmart to Pay $10 Million to Settle FTC Allegations A July 2024 ruling that dismissed the FTC’s Telemarketing Sales Rule claim limited the agency’s ability to obtain monetary relief for consumers.10FTC. FTC v. Walmart, Case No. 182 3012
Two points matter for anyone hoping to file a claim. The case concerned in-store wire transfers (services like MoneyGram and Western Union at Walmart counters), not gift cards. And the $10 million goes to the government, not to individual consumers.
What Walmart Changed About Gift Card Purchases
An investigation by the New York and Pennsylvania attorneys general, opened in 2017, led to a 2018 agreement in which Walmart, Target, and Best Buy tightened gift card rules. Walmart cut its maximum gift card purchase per transaction from $5,000 to $1,000 and imposed a $500 per-card limit. The chains also agreed to restrict using store-branded cards to buy third-party gift cards and to train employees to spot scam warning signs.11Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Walmart, Target, Best Buy Make Changes to Gift Card Policies According to ProPublica, Walmart did not adopt the specific restriction on using its store cards to buy other gift cards until 2022.12ProPublica. How Walmart’s Financial Services Became a Fraud Magnet
The “$750 Walmart Gift Card Settlement” Is a Scam
Ads and social media posts promising a $750 or $1,000 Walmart gift card through a “settlement” or “survey” are not connected to any real case. Walmart’s own fraud alert page warns that online offers of free gift cards “are often scams” and reminds shoppers that “you can’t win a contest you didn’t enter.”2Walmart. Fraud Alerts
Security researchers have identified these campaigns as lead-generation scams built to harvest personal data through chains of surveys and redirects, then sell that information to data brokers for targeted marketing and spam. Legitimate Walmart promotions come only from official domains like walmart.com or survey.walmart.com. Close the tab and report the ad at reportfraud.ftc.gov.2Walmart. Fraud Alerts
If You Were Scammed With a Walmart Gift Card
Contact Walmart’s dedicated fraud line at (888) 537-5503 as soon as you can, and file complaints with the FTC at reportfraud.ftc.gov and the Internet Crime Complaint Center. Acting quickly matters, because Walmart can sometimes freeze balances before a scammer drains them.2Walmart. Fraud Alerts Keep your receipt, the physical card, and any communication with the scammer; those records support any future claim, whether through the retailer, your bank, or a class action if one produces a settlement.