Don’t fall for social media posts promising free money from Walmart

A Facebook page created Sept. 8 describes itself as a hub for "the latest news about journalism, career advice and industry information." 

But in the days since, the page has only posted about supposed payouts from Walmart. 

On Sept. 15, for example, the page posted a claim that "Walmart must pay $500 to U.S. families who made purchases in 2022." We fact-checked that and found it False.

Another post from the page that same day makes a similar offer with a twist: "Walmart must pay $500 to customers who made purchases in the last 180 days." 

This post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)

Walmart didn’t respond to PolitiFact’s questions about the post, but the company’s website warns against these types of offers: "Don’t click on or respond to online ads or websites offering free gift cards. Remember, if it sounds too good to believe, it is!"

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Clicking the "apply now" link in the post leads to a page unaffiliated with Walmart called tablewaretreasuresggk.space with a URL that includes "tortilla/de-patatas-spanish-potato-omelet-revisted." And rather than mentioning anything about a required refund, it says, "Join Walmart’s fight against food waste: participate in our $500 gift card giveaway." 

The post claims that recent Walmart customers are entitled to $500 from the company. After filling out a survey via the link and indicating that we hadn’t shopped there before, we received a notification that we were qualified to try to win a prize. 

Then came the catch: To get the $500 Walmart gift card we supposedly won, we had to enter an address and give credit card information to pay $2.95 in shipping. 

Reader, we did not take the bait. 

We also found no evidence in news reports or other credible sources that Walmart is required to make any such payment to customers. 

We rate this post False.