Walmart, CashApp class action claims companies facilitate unreimbursed fraudulent transfers to scammers

Walmart class action lawsuit overview:

• Who: Plaintiff Risa Potters filed a class action lawsuit against Walmart Inc. and the owner and operator of the CashApp money transfer application.
• Why: Walmart and CashApp allegedly profit from scammers and do not offer recourse to victims of scams.
• Where: The CashApp class action lawsuit was filed in California federal court.

Walmart and CashApp profit from scammers and leave CashApp scam victims no recourse, according to a class action lawsuit filed Dec. 8 in California federal court.

“Walmart advertises itself as a ‘one-stop shop for financial services,’ which has translated to a one-stop shop for scammers who know that Walmart does not have adequate protections to flag and prevent fraud,” plaintiff Risa Potters alleges in the Walmart class action lawsuit.

Potters says she has been subject to fraudulent transfers facilitated by Walmart through CashApp. She claims she received a phone call from someone purporting to be a police officer claiming she needed to post a $10,000 bond because she failed to appear in court to testify in a case involving one of her chiropractic patients.

The caller reportedly provided her with convincing information, saying the subpoena had been sent to a former residence and providing her with the name of a judge and supposed case number. She was told that someone had signed the subpoena and therefore she had been expected in court.

CashApp scam sent plaintiff to Walmart to send fraudulent transactions, class action says

Potters says the caller phoned her “incessantly” and, because she believed he was a law enforcement officer, she obeyed his direction to go to Walmart to post the bond. She had never used financial services at Walmart or CashApp prior to this incident, according to the Walmart scam class action lawsuit.

When Potters arrived at a Walmart store, the caller reportedly texted her CashApp barcode screenshots that she could use to send money in $500 installments due to Walmart’s limitations on transactions. The Walmart employee did not notify Potters that the transactions were likely related to fraudulent activity and that deposits should only be made to one’s own CashApp account, not to transfer funds to others, the Walmart class action lawsuit alleges.

“Nor did it raise any red flags that [Potters] was digging through her text messages for unexpired CashApp barcodes rather than generating them through the app,” the CashApp class action lawsuit states.

Potters says she lost $4,000 in the CashApp scam facilitated by Walmart employees and has not been compensated for her losses. In addition to the financial loss, she says she has suffered emotional and financial distress from the Walmart scam.

She filed the CashApp class action lawsuit on behalf of consumers who incurred unreimbursed losses since Jan. 1, 2021 due to fraudulent money transfers initiated through Walmart  and/or who incurred reimbursed losses from making paper money deposits into a CashApp account other than their own CashApp account.

Walmart was recently hit with a class action lawsuit alleging it misclassifies delivery app drivers as independent contractors when they should be classified as employees.

Have you or someone you know fallen victim to a Walmart or CashApp scam? Tell us your story in the comments.

Potters is represented by Brian R. Strange, John Ceglia and Brianna J. Strange of Strange LLP.

The CashApp scam class action lawsuit is Risa Potters v. Walmart Inc., et al., Case No. 2:23-cv-10335, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

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