Walmart Impersonation Robocall Scam Rising and Gets Attention of FCC
By: Jim Stickley and Tina Davis
March 8, 2026
Scammers posing as Walmart employees are behind a frightening new robocall campaign that has duped thousands across the country. According to investigators at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and sanctioned Industry Traceback Group, the campaign — traced to just one network provider over a few-month span — delivered nearly eight million illegal robocalls between January 21 and April 11, 2025.
It’s a pretty typical strategy, but because of that, it works. An automated voice, often using names like “Emma” or “Carl,” informs the recipient that a pricey order, such as a game console, has been charged to their Walmart account. The victim is told to “press 1” to cancel the order or speak with customer support. And if the recipient presses 1? Well, they are connected to a live fraudster who tries to harvest credit-card details, Social Security numbers, or other personal data under the guise of “verifying” the order.
There are some clues to whether or not it’s a scam:
- The offer is too good to be true
- The caller or texter makes it seem like it’s urgent that you act immediately
- The caller asks for personal information and/or banking details or payments
- The caller is unsolicited
This isn’t the only scam that uses Walmart to perform its tricks. Common Walmart scams to watch for:
- Gift card scams
- Survey email and text scams
- Delivery phone scams
- Mystery shopper scam
- Giveaway scams
Because robocalls often rely on spoofing or faked caller IDs, they’re difficult to trace and block. And unfortunately, these days, anyone can spoof a phone number or caller ID information.
All of this contributes to a very disturbing trend. In April 2025, U.S. consumers received about 165 million robocalls per day, according to data from the monitoring firm YouMail. According to research from Robokillers, from January to June of 2023, phone scams, which include text scams, cost Americans $46 billion.
With these recent moves, the FCC is signaling that phone-service providers must become active defenders in the fight against fraudulent calls. That’s good news for all of us that are exhausted from receiving so many robocalls.
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