Woman goes to Walmart for her ‘little experiment,’ then realizes her card does not work unless she turns on her phone’s Wi-Fi and then turns it off

There’s a lot of social media chatter about Walmart these days. A prevalent story involves claims from some individuals that shoppers are being monitored via in-store cameras and that their personal data is being tracked through Bluetooth and Wi-Fi on their phones.

Kam (kamo_lmfao) tried to test that theory and shared her findings on TikTok in a video. “I just left Walmart, but before I got to the parking lot, I figured that I wanted to test my little theory, test my little experiment, right?” Kam said she switched her Bluetooth and Wi-Fi off beforehand because she didn’t want to be caught doing the same on the Flock cameras recording her.

She also said she wanted to take a picture of the items with their digital price tags intact, fearing they might change in the future. However, she said she faced no such problems.

But when she went to the register and tried to pay with her card, the card reader allegedly declined it. She said she tried repeatedly but failed, and succeeded only after turning her phone’s Wi-Fi on and then off. “And it wasn’t until I took my phone out, turned my Wi-Fi on, and then turned it back off did the card reader accept my…physical card payment,” she said. She concluded her video by saying, “Take what you need from that.”

“My cards never work there”

Kam’s story serves as an example of why people should continue to ask questions when it comes to big corporations such as Walmart. In her comments section alone, a handful of people said they experienced something similar.

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One user wrote, “My cards never work there.” Another said, “Just a reference, my card wouldn’t go through a few times yesterday, not until the 4th try. Was so weird.”

Some people said they felt Walmart breached their privacy. One individual highlighted that, despite taking precautions to avoid being identifiable at Walmart, the system still identified them by name. They said, “I deleted their app. I turn off my wifi b4 I left home, put it on Airplane mode and then I left my phone in the car and at the checkout the machine still knew my name… I paid cash!” Another person stated, “When I pay with my debt card in person, it shows up on my Walmart app. Even though I never searched or paid with the app.”

A few people mentioned that such experiences were not just confined to Walmart but extended beyond that. One user wrote, “…My husband used his card to purchase Burger King in person not using the app. His card is saved on my Burger King app and I got a message saying thank you for your purchase… It’s crazy how much they’re tracking us…” Another person said, “Target is doing this too!! You get texts from the app if you’re staring at an item for a bit ‘suggesting’ item for you!!!!”

Some people in the comments also suggested ways to combat such situations. A popular suggestion was that people leave their phones behind before shopping at these places. Another popular suggestion was that people stop shopping at Walmart altogether.

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