Settlements & Refunds · Notice
Nuvei pays $4.85 million over processing for tech support scams
The FTC says the payment processor opened and kept merchant accounts for a tech support scheme and hid its chargebacks from card network monitoring. The money is meant for consumer redress, but no refund round has been announced.
The Federal Trade Commission has settled with Nuvei, a global payment processor, over the merchant accounts it opened and kept open for businesses the agency says were defrauding consumers. Nuvei pays $4.85 million, which the FTC says will be used for consumer redress, and accepts a permanent order restricting who it may process payments for.
The complaint was filed in the US District Court for the District of Arizona on September 3, 2026, and the stipulated order was entered on September 9. The FTC announced both on September 4. The defendants are Nuvei Corporation of Canada and four subsidiaries, including two Cyprus companies formerly named SafeCharge.
What the FTC says happened
The case is built around a tech support scheme operating as Reimage. The complaint says that since at least 2011 the defendants assisted and facilitated that scheme, opening numerous merchant accounts for it and spreading its transactions, including the chargebacks disputed by deceived customers, across those accounts. That spreading is the practice the FTC calls load balancing, and the complaint says it hid Reimage's excessive chargeback rates from the fraud monitoring programs the card networks run.
In early 2020, the complaint says, Visa warned the defendants that Reimage was impersonating Microsoft with fake virus alerts and steering people to offshore call centers, and fined them 25,000 euros, which they deducted from Reimage's sales proceeds. They kept processing. The FTC's announcement puts the total at more than $30 million in consumer payments processed for Reimage between 2017 and 2023.
The complaint also names other merchants the FTC had already sued: DK Automation, which sold business coaching and "turn-key Amazon stores" with earnings claims the FTC valued at $52.9 million in consumer injury, and American Tax Service, which the agency says impersonated government tax authorities.
What the order requires
The order runs against Nuvei and its officers and agents, and it:
- Bans tech support processing. Nuvei may not provide payment services to anyone selling tech support products or services by telemarketing, or through pop-up messages about security or performance problems on a device.
- Bans evasion. It may not make false statements to obtain payment processing, or use tactics, load balancing among them, to avoid the fraud and risk monitoring programs run by banks and card networks.
- Requires screening and monitoring. Before taking on a client in the riskier categories, Nuvei must run a reasonable screening for deceptive or unfair practices; within 60 days it must review its current clients for ones that need that treatment, and it must investigate any client whose chargeback rates pass the limits the order sets.
Nuvei neither admits nor denies the allegations, which is standard in an FTC stipulated order; what a settlement without an admission means explains why that sentence sits next to the payment. The Commission vote to file was 2-0.
Is there money for consumers
Not yet, and possibly not directly. The $4.85 million was due within seven days of the order. The order says the money may go into a fund for consumer relief, such as redress and the cost of running a redress fund. If the FTC decides direct redress is impracticable in whole or in part, or money is left after redress, it may use the remainder for related relief, including consumer information remedies; anything not used for relief goes to the US Treasury. The order also requires Nuvei to hand over customer information the FTC needs to administer redress.
So there is no claim form and no announced payment round. The FTC publishes a page for each refund program when one opens, and this desk tracks the ones paying now on FTC refunds. If you paid a tech support company after a pop-up warning about your computer, the useful step now is to find the charge on an old statement, so you can recognize your own record if a round is announced later.
Nuvei's case settles allegations that were never tested in court. Weeks later, FleetCor agreed to pay $100 million in a case where a federal court had already ruled against it, which is the more unusual path to the same kind of redress fund.
One warning worth repeating: the FTC never asks for money or bank details to release a refund. Anyone contacting you about this case and asking for either is not the FTC.
What to do
- There is nothing to claim today. If a refund round opens, it will appear on the FTC’s refund programs page and on this desk’s tracker.
- If you paid a tech support company after a pop-up warning, find the charge on an old card statement now; refund rounds are usually paid from company records, and knowing the date and amount helps you check what you are sent.
- Treat any message about this case that asks for money or bank details as a scam. The FTC does not ask for either to release a refund. reportfraud.ftc.gov
- Read the order itself if you want the terms; it is 22 pages and sets out the ban, the screening duties and the money. ftc.gov
Questions readers ask
- Will I get a refund from the Nuvei settlement?
- There is no claim process and no announced payment round. The order says the $4.85 million may be placed in a fund for consumer relief such as redress, and that if the FTC decides direct redress is impracticable, or money is left over, it may use the rest for related relief including consumer information remedies, with anything unused going to the US Treasury. If a refund round opens, the FTC publishes a page for it and usually pays from company records rather than claims.
- What did the FTC accuse Nuvei of doing?
- Of unfair payment processing and of assisting and facilitating deceptive telemarketing, in breach of the FTC Act and the Telemarketing Sales Rule. The complaint says Nuvei opened numerous merchant accounts for a tech support scheme trading as Reimage and spread its transactions and chargebacks across them, hiding excessive chargeback rates from card network monitoring, and kept processing after Visa warned in early 2020 that Reimage was impersonating Microsoft with fake virus alerts.
- Did Nuvei admit wrongdoing?
- No. The order records that the defendants neither admit nor deny the allegations in the complaint, except that they admit the facts needed to establish the court’s jurisdiction. They also agreed that the facts alleged will be taken as true in later FTC proceedings to enforce payment, including in a bankruptcy case.
- What is load balancing?
- Spreading one merchant’s card transactions across several merchant accounts so that no single account shows the chargeback rate the merchant is actually generating. Card networks monitor accounts that cross chargeback thresholds, so splitting the volume can keep a business below the trigger. The order bans Nuvei from using it, or other tactics, to avoid bank and card network monitoring.
- What is Nuvei banned from doing now?
- Providing payment services to anyone selling tech support products or services by telemarketing or through pop-up messages about a device’s security or performance; making false statements to obtain payment processing; and using tactics such as load balancing to evade fraud and risk monitoring. It must also screen new clients in risky categories, review its existing clients within 60 days and investigate any client whose chargeback rates exceed the order’s limits.
- How much did consumers lose?
- The FTC puts the payments Nuvei processed for Reimage at more than $30 million between 2017 and 2023. For the other merchants named, the complaint cites the FTC’s earlier case against DK Automation, which alleged at least $52.9 million in consumer injury. The order does not put a figure on total consumer loss, and the $4.85 million is a negotiated amount, not a calculation of harm.
Filed under: FTC refunds: who is being paid now
Mentioned:Federal Trade Commission
How we reported this
Built from 3 primary documents linked in the Source Card. Every number was copied from the document, not from another outlet.
This page describes public documents and agency procedures. It is not legal advice, and FactFiled has no attorney on its review panel; the editor checked the page against the documents it cites. For a decision about your own case, use the official source linked above or consult a lawyer.
Written by Mirza Seraj Baig · Checked against the documents in the source card (editorial standards).