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A recent class action lawsuit claims that Walmart negligently allows scammers to steal Green Dot prepaid Visa card information.
Walmart offers several prepaid Visa cards, including products through Green Dot Bank. According to a recent Walmart, Green Dot class action, these cards may be susceptible to fraud.
Plaintiff Guillermo Espinoza says he purchased two $500 prepaid Green Dot Visa cards in February 2019, which he intended to use to pay his rent in March.
The day after he purchased the Green Dot cards, Espinoza reportedly attempted to make a payment on his rent only to be denied several times due to “insufficient funds.”
Espinoza allegedly went back to his local Walmart and asked an associate for guidance. The employee reportedly told him to try again later in the day or the next day, “stating that she believed it may just take a few days for the cards to activate.”
In the same day, Espinoza reportedly called the toll free number on the back of the cards and was told by the automated system that his cards had an available balance of $499 and $500, respectively.
On March 1, Espinoza reportedly repeated the process and learned that one of his cards had a posted transaction for $498.74 at a Walmart in Hemet, Calif. His other card reportedly had a “nearly identical” transaction for a $497.74 charge at the same Walmart.
“Upon seeing the charges to the Plaintiff’s Greendot cards, Plaintiff was furious, confused, and anxious as he needed the funds to pay his rent,” the Walmart, Green Dot class action claims.
Espinoza reportedly attempted to dispute the fraudulent charges with Green Dot but the bank allegedly directed him towards Walmart. He says he called the Hemet Walmart where a floor manager told him that similar “scams” had recently occurred. Information from the prepaid cards was reportedly “compromised.” According to the Walmart Green Dot class action, the manager allegedly told Espinoza “…as soon as they get activated a hacker can liquidate the gift cards.”
Following this conversation, Espinoza was allegedly directed to corporate Walmart’s fraud hotline. He reportedly opened up an investigation with the hotline and filed a police report. After sending his information to the hotline on March 2, Espinoza was reportedly forced to wait while the company investigated. He allegedly called every three to four days to request updates but was given no information.
On March 15, Espinoza reportedly checked again on the investigation and was told that Walmart could not do anything to help him because they were “not liable for those Visa gift cards.” He was then directed back to Green Dot Bank despite having already talked to the company. Green Dot allegedly said they too were not liable for the cards and suggested that this sort of scam was common.
According to the Walmart, Green Dot class action, Espinoza was told that scammers obtain the Green Dot card information prior to genuine purchases. After customers purchase the cards, scammers reportedly attempt $1 purchases to see if the cards are activated. After the products are activated, scammers are allegedly free to spend the rest of the available balance.
Espinoza argues that Walmart and Green Dot Bank do not sufficiently protect the information on the pre-paid cards, making them susceptible to scams and fraud.
“Walmart chooses to sell its Greendot funded Visa Debit Cards in unsecure packaging, wherein the identifying information is exposed to any third parties who come in contact with the Visa Debit Card prior to selling the cards to unsuspecting consumers,” the Walmart class action claims.
Espinoza seeks to represent a Class of California consumers who purchased Green Dot Visa prepaid cards from Walmart with balances of more than $50.
Did you purchase Walmart Green Dot Visa cards only to have the funds fraudulently stolen from you? Share your experiences in the comment section below!
Espinoza and the proposed Class are represented by Ahren A. Tiller of BLC Law Center APC and Abbas Kazerounian of Kazerouni Law Group APC.
The Walmart, Green Dot Prepaid Cards Class Action Lawsuit is Espinoza v. Walmart Inc., et al., Case No. 3:19-cv-01972-MMA-RBB, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California.
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367 thoughts onWalmart Class Action Says Green Dot Prepaid Cards Are Compromised
There are ALOT of scams with alot of scammers. Keep record with screenshots. Don’t be quiet either. I found some site called Sliphilis.com. when i looked online i couldn’t get to it. On Google or a TOR browser. Weird huh.
Good luck everyone I have been fighting against green dot for my stolen money since 2020 and the San Francisco bank didn’t even investigate my case they took the green dot word n the evidence I have they straight up lied to San Francisco federal bank n then they dropped my case bc they believed them n I have evidence backing me up I have thousand of thousands of dollars missing bc of them and it’s absolutely sicking and the only way I can prolly ever get it beat or to court is if I had the money to pay a good attorney bc I have had two appointed legal aid attorneys from Arkansas and they never done crap and I had the state involved they didn’t do anything but turned it over to San Francisco bank but if I had the money to pay for a expensive lawyer it would have been taking farther.
Greendot allowed a scam artist to change all my account information, withdraw $500 out of my account and then when I reported it they closed my account with the rest of my money and refused to refund the $500 or the remaining balance.
AFTER i filled a BBB and called daily repeatively, the “approved ” my refund of my whole account balance ($800) and said they were sending a check (dec 2021), still havent received.
they claim theyve sent but refuse to give a tracking number or to “cancel” check and reissue with a USPS tracking number.
they keep giving different claim numbers and “escalating”.
I live on a fixed income of SS and they stole all my money during the holidays. i couldnt pay bills let along pay for any grandkids presents.
i had to borrow from my family to pay bills and they still won;t give me MY money back.
please help!
That’s exactly what they did to me
I originally purhased a walmart green dot card
For 600$ and could not access my greendot
Account. Been to several walmart stores and i got the
Alibi that they are not responsible. Went thru 6 different walmart money center managers n reps they told me that the card is not walmarts no more so they gave me greendots nbr but to no avail. What a scam from the get go. Im IN for the class action
I purchased the green dot card and I can’t even activate the card. It keeps telling me invalid number. Don’t buy green dot cards unless you want to chance getting your money or not.
I have a Green Dot card from Walmart also my card has been compromised over $3,000 since September and they will not give me my money back I can’t get in contact with eBay eBay won’t give me my money back Walmart Green Dot won’t give me my money back I need some help thank you
walmart money card green dot let fraudulent activity happen on my card. i live on SSI as i’m retired. they allowed them to access my account and change all information without raising any flags or asking for verification. then they stole $500 out of my account.
they then locked my account and won’t let me talk to a real person.
i cant access the rest of my money or get them to refund my $500 back.
they refused to help.
said wait 10 days and then they might refund via check that will take several weeks to receive. i have no money to pay bills or live on for a month? IF they do refund it or send it??? help
Same happened to me. Two $500 gift cards were given to me for Christmas 2020 from work. I finally registered last month and went to use them this week. My first transaction online was rejected and I checked the balance – someone made 100 transactions in a row for $5 on the Google play store, wiping out the balance. The fraudsters must have scripts running to continually check if cards are activated.
My Walmart money card was compromised and they stole my money and Walmart money card closed the account gave me my money back but put it on the same card that they closed the account and I can’t get my money off it
That is exactly what has happened to me.
I am in the same boat as of today. I identified unauthorized transactions made on October 14 2021 for a card that was purchased in August 2021. I have been in calls for more than 3 hours with walmart gift card who is directing the calls to dispute department with no avail and response from them and the calls get disconnected. Very unprofessional and seems a big fraud is going with the cards.
Some thins walmart has to figure out and give our money back.
I am so angry, because everything that happen to everyone else, has happened to me. If I would have known that Walmart sells cards that allow people to steal your money, I would have never purchased this card. I purchased a pre-paid visa debt card. I loaded $400 on the card. The cashier informed me that I had to make sure I register my card on WalmartGift.com, or I wouldn’t be able to use it. I was having problems with registering the card and had to contact customer service multiple times. They asked for the card number. The expiration number, and the 3 digit code on the back. I didn’t think they we’re about to steal my money. I thought they we’re helping me register my card. After I got the card registered, I went online to pay a bill. The payment didn’t go through, so I called the card. It said $400 was paid to some place I never heard of in California. I kept calling customers service to help. They kept saying they couldn’t do anything. I had to speak to someone from the lost and stolen department. Everytime they would transfer me to the same woman, she wouldn’t help. She would just say “I’m sorry. I would be mad too. But I can’t help because your card is not registered” And it was. Otherwise I wouldn’t be able to pull it up online. I’m tired of going through this. I just want my money back. I have kids and a life i’m trying to maintain. I’m so angry and sad
what fast service, I was on hold 2 hours waiting to speak to a supervisor.this is a sad operation, you can’t re.ach a person
My card did not say Green Dot at all. But I’ve had the same problem as you all have. I’ve been hung up on so many times. Finally was given an email address but I don’t think it works because I was supposed to receive an email verifying dispute but haven’t received one yet. I am totally pissed off. I was trying to come up with an option for my brother since he can’t get a debit card and he ended up losing $300.00. He’s elderly and only has a pension. Damn bastards have no conscience. I’d be okay with a class action suit as well. This kind of BS has to stop. Stinking Walmart makes money hand over fist. They should be liable for this scam.
After closer scrutiny, the card does say Green dot on it. Checked balance and the $300.00 is gone. I want to be added as a member of the class action. What do I need to do? And should I file a report with the police?
I am going to the same thing. If Walmart knows that the cards are being used to scam people, why are they still selling them. I am trying to see what I need to do so I can get my money back. Have you found out a solution?
I read the complaints and the same happened to me. Its fraud over and over again. I purchased a Green Dot VISA card from Walmart (500.00), went to register the card and all the money was gone. I went to Walmart and called Green Dot. I received absolutely no assistance from Walmart and as far as Green Dot bank is concerned, I could barely understand the individuals when I spoke to them, always placed on hold, then they’d hang up. They’d call and leave a message that only they knew what was said. I’d return the call, sometimes a different number and case number, very short conversation, then hang up.This happened many times. I don’t understand why they asked for a copy of the front and back of the card and the receipt. I suppose it was a ‘front’ too. I reported the bank and the scam to the BBB which was no help. In their last letter to me, the BBB wrote that I could pursue my complaint via the four “other avenues” listed in their response letter. They closed my complaint, then noted that it will appear in the company’s BBB Review as “Answered”…the customer remains dissatisfied” What a crock!!. I need my money and wish Walmart would stop selling these cards if they are not going to be held responsible for ensuring that they are legitimate cards.
Same exact crap as I have gone thru for going on 6 months of promises to send me my money. Mine was only $110 + cost of card but it is still a scam and I have told walmart I am about to stop purchasing from them but of course it makes no difference as I am only pennies to them.