The FTC Fined Payment Processor Nuvei $4.85 Million Over Merchants It Kept Processing for Years
The agency says Nuvei kept billing customers' cards for a tech-support scam even after Visa flagged the merchant for fraud in 2020.
Meridians Money Desk
Published 10 September 2026 · Updated 10 September 2026 · 4 min read
BusinessThe short answer
- The FTC settled with payment processor Nuvei and four subsidiaries for $4.85 million, in a case filed September 4, 2026 in federal court in Arizona, on a 2-0 Commission vote.
- The agency says Nuvei processed more than $30 million between 2017 and 2023 for 'Reimage,' an offshore tech-support scam, and kept doing so even after Visa issued a fraud warning on the merchant in 2020.
- Nuvei also processed for 'American Tax Service,' accused of impersonating a government agency, and 'DK Automation,' accused of false earnings claims.
- Nuvei must now screen and monitor merchants, especially telemarketers, is banned from processing for telemarketed tech-support products, and can't use 'load balancing' to dodge fraud-monitoring systems. It didn't admit or deny the allegations.
The Federal Trade Commission has settled with global payment processor Nuvei and four of its subsidiaries for $4.85 million, over allegations that the company kept processing card payments for merchants it knew, or should have known, were running scams.
What Nuvei is accused of
- Processing more than $30 million between 2017 and 2023 for 'Reimage,' an offshore tech-support scam — and continuing after Visa issued a fraud warning on the merchant in 2020
- Processing for 'American Tax Service,' accused of impersonating a government agency
- Processing for 'DK Automation,' accused of making false earnings claims
The settlement terms
Filed September 4-5, 2026 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona, on a 2-0 FTC vote, the settlement requires Nuvei to screen and monitor its merchant clients going forward, especially in telemarketing categories. The company is banned from processing payments for telemarketed tech-support products, from making false statements to obtain merchant accounts, and from tactics such as 'load balancing' that can be used to evade fraud-monitoring systems, on top of the $4.85 million payment.
Scale, and what Nuvei says
The FTC's own framing puts the flagged accounts at under 0.011% of Nuvei's transaction volume across more than 150,000 merchants. '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. Nuvei said in a statement that it 'supports the FTC's mission to protect consumers and is committed to robust compliance oversight,' without admitting or denying the allegations.
Sources
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Meridians Money Desk is an editorial desk at Meridians, not an individual. A desk byline means the article was produced and fact-checked to that desk's published standards. Read our editorial standards and corrections policy.
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