Payment processor Nuvei Corp. will pay $4.85 million and overhaul how it vets merchants to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that it processed payments for fraudulent sellers.
The Sept. 4 announcement names Nuvei and subsidiaries Nuvei International Group Limited, Nuvei Limited, SafeCharge Digital Limited and Nuvei Technologies Inc. The FTC alleged the company violated the FTC Act and the Telemarketing Sales Rule by handling payments for merchants engaged in scams against U.S. consumers.
Those merchants, the agency said, included tech-support operations such as Reimage, which processed more than $30 million from 2017 to 2023; sellers of business opportunities with false earnings claims; firms that impersonated tax authorities; and merchants that other processors had already dropped for fraud or high chargebacks.
“Today’s action underscores the Commission’s commitment to ensuring that our payments system operates free of fraud,” said Christopher Mufarrige, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “Our enforcement work reinforces the transparency and trust in the payments system that consumers and businesses depend on. Consumers deserve a payment system that is competitive, transparent and fortified against fraud—and we will take action anytime those standards are threatened.”
Under the settlement, Nuvei is banned from providing payment services to people who sell tech-support products or services by telemarketing or through pop-up messages about security or performance problems. The company is also barred from making false statements to obtain merchant accounts and from using tactics meant to dodge fraud or risk-monitoring programs.
Nuvei must screen and monitor current and prospective clients, with extra review for outbound telemarketing and for accounts whose chargeback rates pass set limits. The order is meant to keep high-risk merchants from using the payments system to reach consumers.
