Payment processor Worldline knowingly protected fraudulent webshops for years

Worldline, a French payment processor that is also active in the Nehterlands, has structurally covered up fraud by customers in order to keep the revenue they generated, NRC reported based on research by the newspaper and 20 international media. This has been going on for years, according to the newspaper.

Worldline offers similar services to the Dutch payment company Adyen or the Swedish Klarna, mainly enabling payments for online shops, but also in physical stores. The law requires these payment companies to prevent fraudulent customers from using their systems for criminal money flows. But according to NRC, Worldline regularly looked the other way when customers were linked with suspicious transactions.

Global Collect Services, the Dutch subsidiary of Worldline, also worked with suspicious customers, partly because they brought in “good business,” NRC’s research showed. The newspaper mentioned an Indian company that sells dubious software over the phone to unsuspecting people who received a pop-up on their computer, making it look like they had a virus. Adyen stopped doing business with this Indian company years ago, but Global Collect Services continued to facilitate the company.

De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) launched an investigation into Global Collect Services and how it screens its customers in 2022. According to NRC, the Dutch regulator concluded that Global Collect Services’ screening process was insufficient. Neither DNB nor the Dutch subsidiary would give the newspaper further details about the investigation.

Worldline told the newspaper that it has tightened its internal controls in recent years, especially from 2023 onward, and has terminated relationships with customers who do not meet the standards. “According to the most recent reports, our fraud rate is below the industry average,” the company said.