Is Walmart giving $500 to shoppers because the retailer sold "contaminated" water last year? No, that's not true: There is no evidence that Walmart has sold contaminated water or that they're compensating their customers. Walmart's corporate website does not mention anything of the sort.
The claim appeared on Facebook (archived here) on February 1, 2023. The post has a photo of a woman wearing a Walmart vest standing in front of water bottle cases labeled "Contaminated Water," with a biohazard label superimposed on the image. The post read:
Walmart sold contaminated water last year! Walmart must return customers $500 as compensation. Answer 3 questions to collect the amount
This is what the post looked like on Facebook at the time of the writing of this fact check:
The post does not specify why the water was labeled contaminated or provide sources that substantiate its claim. It doesn't say which customers will receive the $500 -- whether this refers to those who bought the supposedly contaminated water, customers that bought any water from Walmart or all customers.
When we clicked the "Contaminated Water Settlement" link underneath the picture, we were taken to a site that the Google Chrome browser categorized as "deceptive." The browser warned not to access the site because it asks users to do something unsafe. A screenshot of that page is below:
(Source: Google Chrome screenshot taken on Fri Feb 3 15:33:19 2023 UTC)
Google News yielded no relevant results when we searched "Walmart giving $500 to customers for contaminated water." There was no exact match for the entire image featured in the Facebook post, either.
However, the woman in the post's photo appeared in another claim, already debunked by Lead Stories, about Walmart supposedly giving $500 to women over the age of 40 in compensation for discrimination.
Walmart's corporate website did not show any relevant results when we searched for "$500 contaminated water settlement."
Lead Stories contacted Walmart and will update this article if a response is received.
The claim about Walmart giving away $500 to customers resembles similar posts, also debunked by Lead Stories, that claimed that Target and Costco as well were providing $500 in credit or compensation to customers.
