I’ve been getting reports from readers who think they’ve been banned by Moneygram from buying money orders at Walmart. Apparently frequent churners have been getting “transaction could not be completed” messages when attempting to buy money orders.
This usually happens when they try to purchase over $1,000 worth, which prompts them to provide a driver’s license. When the cashier enters this information, the transaction is effectively blocked.
Who is being targeted (if at all)?
At this point, we don’t know exactly who is being targeted. But the people who have reported this to me have purchased at least $10,000 per week in the past.
I’ve been out of the country, not to mention taking a break from manufactured spending, so I haven’t had a chance to test this out myself. But clearly, if someone buying $10,000 per week is getting banned, I’m probably not safe either.
A possible explanation
Another explanation for a possible ban is that Walmart cashiers may have reported these transactions as suspicious. There are two options when processing a money order purchase: One option gets used when customers are buying $3,000+ worth of money orders. It prompts the cashier to collect identifying information from the customer.
The other option is essentially a “suspicious transaction report”. I remember back when Walmart made us fill out paper forms, on occasion, an inexperienced cashier accidentally handed me the “suspicious transaction” report.
Even a couple of months ago, a new cashier at my go-to store accidentally picked the wrong option, prompting her colleague to override her. But I have no doubt that cashiers have probably reported me (intentionally or otherwise). And if that’s the case, then I won’t be surprised if I’m on Moneygram’s banned buyer list.
Final thoughts
All of this is speculation and we don’t know whether Moneygram has really cracked down on manufactured spending or not. But it wouldn’t surprise me if they finally did. I did reach out to a contact at Walmart corporate who wasn’t able to confirm any widespread policy and speculated that it may be location-specific.
Have you experienced these issues when trying to buy money orders at Walmart? I would love to hear from you in the comment section.
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