QUESTION:
Text to receive free gift card offer from Walmart legit?
ANSWER:
No, this offer is not real offer from the company.
SOURCES: Walmart
PROCESS:
Lots of tempting offers we see online but sometimes it's hard to know what's real or fake. So that's where the WUSA9 Verify team comes in.
Like this offer people are sharing on Facebook: It says all you have to do to score a new Walmart gift card is text 8-3-3-6-1 to the word WALMART. You're then taken to this site where you can apply for the electronic gift card.
To find out if the deal is real, our researchers went straight to the source and contacted Walmart. They say the offer is bogus. They don’t give away gift cards via text. They also never notify customers they've won something via text.
How the hoax works, Walmart explains, is that you’re asked to enter an email address and other personal information, including home address, phone number and credit and debit card numbers. Then, the consumer is given the opportunity to select their “free” gift. However, it will end up costing the consumer a lot of money in hidden subscriptions and they'll never actually get that “free” gift card.
And there's more-- we took a closer look at those pics of the food displayed in the Facebook posts and found it originated on a 2015 blog post about clean eating.
Sorry no freebie here. This text to receive offer is not legit.
Walmart has provided the following tips on what you can do to protect yourself from being scammed by a questionable offer you see online:
• Don't open or respond to unsolicited e-mails offering free gift cards or other gifts
• Don't click on or respond to online ads or websites offering free gift cards or other gifts
• Pay attention to the website URL. If the URL does not match the branding to a legitimate website navigate away from the website
If you see a suspicious website that claims to be connected to Walmart, you can email the link to the site to abuse@walmart.com. Then their team will work to shut down the scam.
