All changes

2 published in Payments & fraud, newest first. Open a row to see each claim and its source sentence.

StatusChangeDateVerified

Act now
FTC order names the e-commerce merchant profile processors must refuse
FTC · Payments & fraud · Published Sep 8Published Sep 85/5quoted sentences found in the source
Who does this affect?
New online stores, sellers using a UPS Store or virtual address as their business address, and anyone running subscription or negative-option billing.
What it costs
$12 million paid by the processor, not by sellers. For a store that gets dropped, the cost is a frozen merchant account, held reserves, and weeks without payouts.
What to check
If your business address is a mailbox service, expect a processor to ask for a physical location, bank history, and chargeback data before approving you. Worth checking: where your chargeback ratio sits against the card networks' thresholds, and whether any of your volume runs through more than one merchant account, since the order treats that pattern as a red flag.
Humboldt Merchant Services will pay $12 million to settle charges it processed payments for sham merchants. The order bars it from serving online sellers that use a mailbox-only address and either bill on a negative option, are new, or have no processing history.
The headline, summary, who, cost, and what-to-check lines are our reading of the document, not the document’s words and not advice.
Settlement$12 million
Commission vote2-0
Matched to source. Humboldt pays $12 million and is permanently banned from processing for higher-risk merchants.
Matched to source. The order bars processing for e-commerce businesses with a mailbox-only address that use negative option billing, are new, or lack processing history.
Matched to source. Merchants on Mastercard's MATCH list for chargebacks, laundering, or fraud are also excluded.
Matched to source. The sham merchants ran chargebacks at almost ten times the card brands' excessive threshold.
Matched to source. Spreading volume across accounts to dodge risk monitoring is prohibited.
Open this change Primary source
Review
Nuvei pays $4.85M; FTC requires screening merchants by chargeback rate
FTC · Payments & fraud · Published Sep 4Published Sep 45/5quoted sentences found in the source
Who does this affect?
Any seller opening a new merchant account, selling by telemarketing, or carrying elevated chargebacks.
What it costs
$4.85 million paid by Nuvei. Sellers with a prior termination or elevated chargebacks now face declined applications and reserve holds rather than fines.
What to check
If a processor ever terminated you, check how you answer that question on new applications; the order treats prior terminations as a flag processors must screen for. Worth checking monthly: your chargeback ratio against the one percent figure the order uses.
The FTC's second processor settlement in a week requires Nuvei to screen prospective merchants and investigate any client whose chargebacks exceed set limits. Expect tighter onboarding at every processor.
The headline, summary, who, cost, and what-to-check lines are our reading of the document, not the document’s words and not advice.
Settlement$4.85 million
Processed for one scammore than $30 million
Matched to source. Nuvei will pay $4.85 million for consumer redress.
Matched to source. The order requires screening of all clients and enhanced investigation when chargebacks exceed the order's limits.
Matched to source. The complaint cites merchants that other processors had already terminated for chargebacks or fraud.
Matched to source. Nuvei is banned from serving tech-support sellers that use telemarketing or security pop-ups.
Matched to source. Business-opportunity sellers with unsupported earnings claims were among the merchants cited.
Open this change Primary source

All changes

FTC order names the e-commerce merchant profile processors must refuse

Nuvei pays $4.85M; FTC requires screening merchants by chargeback rate