A multinational payment processing company, its CEO and its chief strategy officer have been ordered by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to stop helping tech support scammers through credit-card laundering.
Payment processor Nexway, several of its subsidiaries and an associated company Asknet, Nexway CEO Victor Iezuitov and its chief strategy officer Casey Potenzone were central to multiple offshore tech-support scams by handling tens of millions of dollars in charges and providing scammers access to the U.S. credit card network, according to an FTC news release issued April 17.
“Companies like Nexway that knowingly launder charges for scammers are breaking the law and helping scammers cheat money from consumers,” Samuel Levine, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, said in the release. “The FTC will not hesitate to use its law enforcement powers to stop them.”
According to the FTC complaint, Nexway got credit card merchant accounts, then used those accounts to collect money from consumers on behalf of the scammers. Nexway, Iezuitov, and Potenzone knew that their tech-support clients were operating scams against consumers and received many complaints about the bogus companies, according to the release. Nexway was involved in tech-support scams since at least 2016, the release states, and the company got approximately a quarter of its business from 2016 and 2020 from its "premium tech support" clients.
The court ordered several restrictions and requirements on Nexway, asknet, Iezuitov and Potenzone, including banning credit-card laundering and assisting tech-support clients with payment processing; a requirement to monitor high-risk clients; and monetary judgements of Nexway and its subsidiaries to pay $350,000; Asknet and its subsidiaries to pay $150,000; Iezuitov to pay $100,000; and Potenzone to pay $50,000, the release reports.
“The Department of Justice will not hesitate to pursue and hold accountable payment processors who facilitate tech support scams that defraud consumers,” Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian Boynton, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division, said in the release. “The Department is committed to protecting consumers from companies that engage in or support deceptive practices.”
