Penalty Amount
$4,850,000
The FTC charged Canada-based payment processor Nuvei Corporation and its subsidiaries with knowingly processing payments for fraudulent merchants, including more than $30 million in payments for the Reimage tech support scam from 2017 to 2023, as well as merchants making false earnings claims and impersonating government tax authorities. Under the stipulated order filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona, Nuvei will pay $4.85 million for consumer redress, is banned from serving tech support telemarketers, and must implement robust merchant screening and chargeback monitoring practices. Note: this is a payments-fraud facilitation action under the FTC Act and Telemarketing Sales Rule, not a data privacy violation.
Nuvei will pay $4.85 million, which will be used to provide consumer redress. The order bans Nuvei from providing payment services to any person selling tech support products or services by telemarketing or by pop-up messages relating to security or performance issues on a computer or other device. Nuvei is prohibited from making false or misleading statements to obtain merchant accounts, and from engaging in tactics to avoid fraud or risk monitoring programs established by banks or credit card networks, including load balancing. Nuvei must screen and monitor its existing and prospective clients, including clients in certain merchant categories such as outbound telemarketing, and conduct enhanced screening and investigation of any existing client whose chargeback rates exceed the limits set forth in the order.
In-house legal teams at payment processors, payment facilitators, marketplaces, or any company extending merchant account or payment services should review merchant onboarding agreements, payment processing agreements, and sponsor-bank contracts for merchant screening and due diligence obligations, prohibited merchant category lists (especially tech support and outbound telemarketing), chargeback rate thresholds with enhanced monitoring triggers, anti-load-balancing and anti-evasion covenants, representations and warranties regarding the lawfulness of a merchant's business practices, and termination/suspension rights for high-risk or previously terminated merchants. Companies that rely on third-party payment processors should audit those vendor agreements to confirm the processor conducts comparable screening (this enforcement shows processor-level failures can follow the underlying fraud), and indemnification and consumer redress cost-allocation clauses should be checked to ensure fraud-related losses and regulatory penalties flow to the responsible party. Teams should also add or update reps around compliance with the FTC Act and Telemarketing Sales Rule in customer and vendor payment-related contracts.
Entity
Nuvei Corporation
Industry
Financial ServicesOfficial Press Release
https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2026/09/payment-processor-nuvei-must-implement-robust-merchant-screening-practices-pay-485-million-settle
Nuvei Complaint
https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/ftc_gov/pdf/Nuvei-Complaint.pdf
Nuvei Order
https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/ftc_gov/pdf/Nuvei-Order.pdf
Federal Trade Commission Enforcement Page
https://www.ftc.gov/enforcement
"Canada-based Nuvei Corporation"
"Global payment processor Nuvei will pay $4.85 million to settle the Federal Trade Commission’s charges"
"September 4, 2026"
"The FTC filed the complaint and final order in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona."
"with unfair practices in connection with payment processing in violation of the FTC Act and assisting and facilitating deceptive telemarketers in violation of the Telemarketing Sales Rule"
"Nuvei processed more than $30 million in consumer payments for Reimage, an offshore tech support scam, from 2017 to 2023"
The FTC rescinded its 2021 Policy Statement on Breaches by Health Apps and Other Connected Devices, which had purported to apply the Health Breach Notification Rule to health apps and connected devices that collect consumer health information. The rescission follows the Commission's 2024 update to the Health Breach Notification Rule, which already covers health apps and connected devices like fitness trackers, and implements an executive order directing agencies to eliminate obsolete guidance documents. No company was charged or penalized; this is a deregulatory action.
$12.0M
The FTC alleged that payment processor Humboldt Merchant Services knowingly processed payments for more than 1,000 shell merchant entities serving as fronts for fraudulent companies engaged in unauthorized billing scams, despite red flags including chargeback rates nearly 10 times higher than card-brand thresholds. Under the proposed stipulated order filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, Humboldt will pay $12 million for consumer redress and is permanently banned from processing payments for merchants with a heightened risk of potential fraud.
The FTC announced a seven-day extension of the public comment period on its proposed enforcement policy statement regarding personalized pricing, pushing the deadline from Sept. 18, 2026 to Sept. 25, 2026. Personalized pricing refers to using personal data to set prices based on what the company believes an individual consumer is willing to spend. This is a procedural announcement about draft agency guidance, not an enforcement action against any company, and no entity was named, no violation found, and no penalty imposed.
Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser joined the FTC and 22 state attorneys general in filing a lawsuit against Amazon for manipulating the auctions used to set advertising prices, replacing actual auction results with higher prices since 2019 and overcharging nearly 1.2 million U.S. advertising customers. The FTC estimates total improper surcharges from 2018 to 2026 exceed $20 billion, with costs ultimately passed to shoppers through higher prices. The states seek a permanent injunction and monetary relief; no penalty has been imposed yet as this is a newly filed complaint.
$930K
The FTC finalized orders requiring CMG Media Corporation (doing business as Cox Media Group), MindSift LLC, and 1010 Digital Works LLC to pay a total of $930,000 for falsely claiming they offered an AI-powered service that could target ads based on conversations captured from consumers' smart devices, and that consumers had opted into such targeting. The orders also prohibit the companies from making misrepresentations about their advertising services, voice data collection, and consumer consent.
The FTC announced it is seeking public comment on a proposed enforcement policy statement regarding personalized pricing, which is the use of personal data to set prices based on what a company believes an individual consumer is willing to spend. The statement warns that undisclosed collection or use of personal data for personalized pricing could violate the FTC Act's prohibition on unfair or deceptive practices. The Commission voted 2-0 to authorize the Federal Register notice.