“Walmart just called ICE on me”: What’s going on with the TikTok videos of workers claiming they were fired by Walmart and Target?
Lately, a strange trend has been taking over TikTok. If one looks up “ICE deportations at Target,” “ICE at Walmart,” or even simply “fired from Target/Walmart,” they’ll be greeted by a flood of videos of people claiming that they were recently fired or deported after working at one of these popular retailers — and, consequently, they’re ready to reveal a variety of secrets about the store.
Usually, these videos are not accompanied by someone actually getting fired or arrested by ICE. Instead, they’re fairly innocuous videos of people working at the store — usually, young women.
So, what’s going on here? Are all of these people really “spilling the secrets” of these stores — or getting deported while working at Target and Walmart? Or, is there something else afoot?
The Walmart/Target deportation scam
In general, these videos follow a similar pattern. The video will show a young woman working at a popular retailer or simply wearing the uniform of a popular retailer.
There is usually no voiceover, but if one is present, it typically tells a story about how the worker was recently fired — or, in some cases, is facing deportation by ICE — and is now ready to share the secrets of the store.
Occasionally, these videos will also include a country’s flag in the text overlay, implying that the person featured in the video will soon be sent back to this country. These countries appear to be chosen at random, with countries like India, Mexico, and Russia frequently being included in on-screen text.
That said, there are also some videos on the topic that do not directly follow this trend. For example, some simply feature videos of people getting emotional. Others make similar claims about other chains, such as Taco Bell, Lululemon, McDonald’s, and Crumbl Cookies.
Are any of these videos real?
After watching some of these videos, it should be clear that something is not quite right.
For example, many videos feature a TikTok creator named Mia (@mama_mia016), who is known for making Target-related content. Mia’s profile notes that she has only one account on the platform, and recent videos indicate that she has not been deported.
Looking at the other videos with these captions, it’s clear that Mia is not the only person to whom this has happened. On the surface, it appears that every one of the videos making this claim has been lifted from another account.
Suspicions are further raised by the captions. Many of the so-called “secrets” in the caption don’t really make sense; for example, multiple videos contain phrases like “We’re forced to listen to Walmart Radio every shift. Most of us hide our AirPods, but if you get caught, you’re in big trouble. Everyone knows about the ‘Walmart Groove’. Look it up.” This is occasionally dubbed the “Target Groove.”
It’s unclear what exactly this is referring to, if anything at all, but this is likely an A.I. hallucination based on the song “Walmart Shuffle,” which was a song commissioned by Walmart in 2019 (and one that is often complained about by employees on sites like Reddit).
Finally, it does not seem that there’s any documented case of Target or Walmart calling ICE on their own employees. While some arrests appear to have been made in-store, leading to viral outrage, it does not presently appear that Walmart, Target, or any of the other stores mentioned in these videos were behind any call to ICE.
In short, it seems that none of these videos are legitimate. But if that’s the case, why are there so many of these videos?
How the scam works
If one actually takes the time to read the captions of these videos, they will soon discover why they are proliferating so quickly.
No matter what the other “secrets” in the caption are, there will always be a bullet point that insists that shoppers can get free products, significant discounts, or gift cards by filling out a survey at a certain website.
Most of these videos have a different website listed. Upon visiting the site, one is told they can receive a gift card by filling out surveys; multiple sites have noted that these are often a scam, and the linked surveys redirect to known problem sites.
After looking into over two dozen of these survey websites, the Daily Dot could only identify the email and phone number of one of the site owners; we have reached out via email for a statement.
What's really happening in the scam
Scammers are using the rise in news stories about ICE deportations in order to garner sympathy from viewers.
To do this, they will steal videos from other creators and claim that they have been deported by ICE, and that they are now ready to reveal secrets about the store.
In the captions of these videos, a link to a survey website will be included, prompting users to enter their personal information. From here, the user may be scammed, or asked to complete multiple surveys, some of which cost money, in order to receive a supposed gift card that might not actually exist.
If you find yourself interacting with a video similar in nature, it's best to stop immediately. Do not engage, and do not click any links sent to you from associated accounts.
The Daily Dot has reached out to Target via email, Walmart via media contact form, and TikTok via email. Since alerting TikTok of the issue, most of the links we found have been removed from the platform.
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