WASHINGTON, D.C. — Global payment processor Nuvei will pay $4.85 million and overhaul how it screens merchants under a proposed Federal Trade Commission settlement filed in Arizona, resolving allegations that the company processed payments for businesses it knew or should have known were engaged in fraud and deception.
The FTC alleges Canada-based Nuvei Corp. and several subsidiaries provided payment-processing services to deceptive merchants, including overseas tech-support operations targeting U.S. consumers.
Nuvei processed more than $30 million in consumer payments from 2017 through 2023 for Reimage, an offshore tech-support operation that the FTC later targeted in a separate enforcement action, according to the complaint.
The agency alleges Nuvei furnished Reimage and other overseas tech-support businesses with merchant accounts through its acquiring bank in Cyprus, allowing them to accept credit-card payments from consumers in the U.S. and elsewhere.
Nuvei Technologies Inc., the company’s U.S.-based subsidiary, also allegedly opened or maintained accounts for merchants accused of making false or unsupported business-opportunity earnings claims, impersonating government tax authorities or having previously been terminated by other processors or acquiring banks because of excessive chargebacks or suspected fraud.
Those merchants included DK Automation, which the FTC targeted in a November 2022 enforcement action, and American Tax Service, which was the subject of an FTC case in October 2025.
The complaint charges Nuvei and the other defendants with unfair payment-processing practices in violation of the FTC Act and with assisting and facilitating deceptive telemarketers in violation of the Telemarketing Sales Rule.
“Consumers deserve a payment system that is competitive, transparent and fortified against fraud,” Christopher Mufarrige, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, said.
Under the proposed order, Nuvei would be barred from providing payment services to businesses selling tech-support products or services through telemarketing or computer pop-up messages involving security or performance problems.
The company would also be prohibited from making false or misleading representations to obtain merchant accounts or other payment-processing services and from using practices intended to evade fraud or risk-monitoring systems maintained by banks and credit-card networks.
The order specifically prohibits load balancing when used to avoid those monitoring programs.
Nuvei would additionally be required to strengthen screening and monitoring of current and prospective clients, including merchants involved in certain higher-risk categories such as outbound telemarketing.
The company must conduct enhanced reviews of existing clients whose chargeback rates exceed thresholds specified in the order.
The $4.85 million payment would be used for consumer redress.
The FTC voted 2-0 to authorize the complaint and stipulated order, which were filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona.
FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson and Commissioner Mark Meador issued a joint statement in connection with the action.
The settlement remains subject to court approval. The FTC files a complaint when it has reason to believe the defendants are violating or are about to violate the law and determines that a proceeding is in the public interest.
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