FTC Refund Checks Going Out Now: Walmart, Cleo AI & the Western Union Deadline

This is a live, time-sensitive guide (current as of October 21, 2026). Three government programs are putting money back in victims' hands right now — two are mailing money automatically, one requires you to file before a December deadline. All three are being impersonated by scammers. Read the impostor warning before you act on anything you receive.

Walmart wire-scam checks: $9.8M

On October 15, 2026, the Federal Trade Commission announced it is sending more than $9.8 million to 65,022 consumers harmed by Walmart's alleged failure to stop scammers who used the company's in-store money-transfer services. The checks follow Walmart's June 2025 settlement of the FTC's allegations.

Who gets one: consumers who completed eligible Walmart money transfers between January 2015 and December 2024. There is no public claim form — the checks are mailed automatically to those whose transfers meet the eligibility criteria.
Your deadline: cash the check within 90 days, as printed on it. An expired check can be difficult to replace.
Questions: the refund administrator is Rust Consulting, 1-833-472-1990. Verify any number against the FTC's own announcement — do not trust a number a caller gives you.
Free, always: the FTC states it never requires people to pay money or provide account information to receive a payment.

Cleo AI: $15.8M via PayPal from Oct 27

The FTC announced on October 8, 2026 that it is returning more than $15.8 million to customers of Cleo AI, a cash-advance app the FTC alleged misled users about advance amounts, timing, hidden express fees, and hard-to-cancel subscriptions.

Who gets paid: 2,124,796 PayPal payments to people who paid Cleo AI for eligible instant cash advances.
Timeline: email notifications go out October 8–26; PayPal payments begin October 27, 2026; recipients must accept within 30 days.
Check the sender: the FTC's refunds page identifies notifications as coming from no-reply@consumersentinel.gov. A "refund" email from any other address is suspect.
Refund administrator: Rust Consulting, 877-788-4958, for questions about eligibility or timing.

Western Union: final phase, Dec 31 deadline

On October 7, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice announced the third and final phase of its compensation process for Western Union fraud victims — funded by the $586 million Western Union forfeited in its 2017 deferred prosecution agreement. The DOJ says more than $436.9 million has already gone to over 180,000 victims, and an additional $3.4 million is being distributed to 1,294 victims in this phase.

Who can file: fraud victims who sent a money transfer through Western Union between January 1, 2004 and March 9, 2020 — including grandparent scams, lottery/sweepstakes scams, romance scams, and other fraud. You do not have to be a U.S. citizen.
Deadline: December 31, 2026. Petitions must be filed online or postmarked by that date — the DOJ calls this the final phase.
How: file at westernunionremissionphase3.com (the portal named in the DOJ announcement) or call 1-833-419-4677. Include any receipts or transfer records you have.
Free: neither the DOJ nor the administrator, Verita Global, will ever ask you to pay to participate.

The impostor warning (read this first)

Every real refund distribution is immediately cloned by scammers. The pattern is always the same: someone calls, texts, or emails claiming to be "the refund department," says your check or payment is ready, and then needs you to pay a fee, "verify" a bank account, or "confirm" a Social Security number to release it. That is the scam.

The FTC and DOJ never require a fee, a bank login, or a Social Security number to deliver a refund.
Type addresses yourself — do not click links in unexpected messages. The real programs live on the FTC's and Justice Department's own sites.
If you already wired money to a scammer and cannot file a chargeback, see our recovery map for scam victims — and check whether your case qualifies for one of the programs above.

If you moved or lost the paperwork

Walmart checks: a check sent to an old address can take a long time to fix — contact Rust Consulting at the number above. Keep your mailing address current with your bank and the post office.
Western Union petitions: gather what you have — transfer numbers, receipts, dates, the name/place you sent to. Partial records are better than none; the administrator verifies petitions against Western Union's records.
If you think you were skipped: eligibility is case-specific, not a date-range guarantee. Contact the named administrator for that program — not a random number from a search ad.

FAQ

No — never. The FTC and the Justice Department state plainly that their refund programs are free. Anyone who calls, texts, or emails asking for a fee, a bank login, or a Social Security number to "release" your refund is a scammer.

Cash it within 90 days, as printed on the check. The FTC is sending 65,022 checks totaling more than $9.8 million to consumers who completed eligible Walmart money transfers between January 2015 and December 2024.

Petitions for the third and final phase of the Justice Department's Western Union fraud-victim compensation program must be filed by December 31, 2026. It covers fraud victims who sent money through Western Union between January 1, 2004 and March 9, 2020.