A hacked Walmart account left this Florida woman $2,000 in the hole. Now she's accusing Walmart of reversing her refund

German knew something was wrong when she got an email about two food orders totaling more than $2,000 on her account that were ready for pickup. Equally disturbing was the pickup location, which had changed from her local Walmart Supercenter in Titusville to a Walmart three hours away.

German said she called Walmart to alert them about the fraud in order to prevent the pickup and subsequent charges. Unfortunately, someone managed to pick up the orders 45 minutes later.

Walmart then flagged the incident as fraud and advised German to talk to her credit card company to get a refund, which she did. But as she explained to WFTV News, the credit reversal she received was itself reversed.

German told the news outlet that she believed Walmart was responsible for cancelling the credit reversal and that the retailer had contacted her credit card company to inform it that the person who picked up the $2,000 order had the correct barcode information on their phone.

“It’s kind of frustrating to know that we’ve been a loyal customer to them and they won’t help us,” German told WFTV news.

Moneywise reached out to Walmart about the case and the company responded by sharing its advice to victims of fraud, including the importance of contacting the police.

“We care about our customers, and we are committed to helping prevent fraud and working with law enforcement to hold bad actors accountable,” a Walmart spokesperson shared in a statement with Moneywise.

But German is still frustrated. “I just really want my money back,” she told WFTV.

Who compensates victims of hacked Walmart accounts?

Walmart’s own webpage on account security is consistent with the advice that was given to German: Customers should contact their bank or credit card issuer to dispute fraudulent charges on their Walmart accounts.

“Your financial institution is always the best place to turn to recover those funds,” the page reads.

Major credit card compnies protect victims of fraud with something called zero-liability protection. As long as victims report fraudulent charges immediately, they don’t owe a cent. The U.S. Fair Credit Billing Act gives consumers 60 days to dispute a wrongful charge on their credit cards and limits their liability to $50.

As German reported the fraud to her credit card company promptly, she owes nothing. But what about her suspicion that Walmart cancelled a credit reversal (officially a payment reversal, also known as a chargeback) on her credit card statement?

According to the chargeback and dispute management platform Chargeblast, the only way a chargeback (or payment reversal) can be reversed is if:

1. The merchant themselves resolves things with the customer (which Walmart did not do),
2. The cardholder cancels their complaint (which German did not do), or
3. The credit card issuer or financial institution realizes an error and stops the process.

Meanwhile, as German waits for her case to be resolved, hacked Walmart accounts continue to be a problem for the company and the account holders.