Nuvei Corporation agreed to pay $4.85 million and accept operational restrictions to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that it enabled deceptive merchants from 2017 to 2023. The Montreal-based payment processor will also face bans on specific business practices as part of the resolution.

Nuvei processed more than $30 million in consumer payments for Reimage from 2017 to 2023. Reimage was an offshore tech support scam that utilized these payment channels to collect funds from victims.

Under the terms of the order, Nuvei is banned from providing payment services to persons selling tech support products via telemarketing or pop-up messages. This restriction aims to prevent the company from facilitating similar schemes in the future through common deceptive outreach methods.

The order prohibits Nuvei from using tactics like load balancing to avoid fraud or risk monitoring programs. Such techniques can obscure high-risk transactions from detection systems used by financial institutions and regulators.

Nuvei must conduct enhanced screening for clients whose chargeback rates exceed limits set in the order. This requirement imposes stricter due diligence obligations on the company when onboarding or maintaining relationships with merchants exhibiting signs of consumer dissatisfaction or fraud.

Why It Matters

This settlement shows the regulatory scrutiny applied to payment processors that facilitate transactions for deceptive merchants. By holding Nuvei accountable for accounts it maintained despite knowledge of deception, the Federal Trade Commission established a precedent for intermediary liability in digital payment ecosystems. The operational restrictions imposed on the company address specific mechanisms used to bypass fraud detection, such as load balancing, which can undermine broader financial security efforts.

The case demonstrates the scale of consumer harm enabled by these payment channels, with more than $30 million processed for a single offshore tech support scam. The allocation of settlement funds for consumer redress provides a direct mechanism for restitution, while the bans on telemarketing and pop-up message sales target prevalent vectors for tech support fraud. These measures aim to disrupt the infrastructure that allows such scams to operate effectively across borders.

Timeline

On September 4, 2026, Nuvei will pay $4.85 million to settle Federal Trade Commission charges. On the same date, the Federal Trade Commission charged that Nuvei opened and maintained payment processing accounts for merchants it knew or should have known were engaged in deception. Also on September 4, 2026, the settlement funds will be used to provide consumer redress.

On September 4, 2026, Nuvei is banned from providing payment services to persons selling tech support products via telemarketing or pop-up messages. On that date, the order prohibits Nuvei from using tactics like load balancing to avoid fraud or risk monitoring programs. Additionally, on September 4, 2026, Nuvei must conduct enhanced screening for clients whose chargeback rates exceed limits set in the order.

What's New

Additional context indicates that Nuvei Corporation is a payment processor headquartered in Montreal, Canada. In September 2020, the company went public with a $700 million initial public offering on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Later, in October 2021, Nuvei closed a $424.8 million American IPO on Nasdaq.