No, the government didn’t give a $500 Walmart credit to every household

Five days after a Facebook account going by the name "in-store credit" was created Oct. 5, it posted an enticing if confusingly written message. 

"Gоvernment hands out -500 $ WalΜart shоp crеdit per househоld- to help with the increased priсеs. Complete 3 questions to collect it," the Oct. 10 post said. 

It included a link to a page using Walmart’s logo but not affiliated with the company. And the promised government handout was gone. Rather, the site offered a $500 Walmart gift card for participating in a survey.

This post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook.)

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The survey was similar to one that featured in another Facebook post we recently checked that offered a $500 gift card for groceries. That was a scam, and so is this. 

Randy Hargrove, a Walmart spokesperson, told us the post isn’t accurate. We also didn’t find anything on Walmart’s website to corroborate the claim in the post — though the company does advise customers to avoid buying, selling or checking a gift card balance "on online marketplaces outside of Walmart.com."

And we found no evidence elsewhere, in news reports or other credible sources, to support the idea that the government is giving every household a $500 Walmart shopping credit to help with inflation. 

We rate this claim Pants on Fire!