Worldline Faces Allegations of Covering Up Client Fraud in "Dirty Payments" Investigation

French digital payments company Worldline is facing allegations of having accepted "questionable" clients and concealed client fraud to protect revenue, according to an investigation dubbed "Dirty Payments" conducted by the European journalism network EIC and 21 media outlets. The reports claim to be based on confidential internal documents and data from Worldline.

The investigation alleges that Worldline regularly overlooked suspicious transactions linked to customers, reportedly fearing a hit to revenues. One specific accusation suggests that if a division accumulated too many fraudulent customers, these accounts were moved to another division. This alleged practice would have enabled "thousands of consumers to be defrauded via web shops and websites," including instances where products were never delivered or subscriptions were unknowingly debited from credit cards.

In response to these allegations, Worldline issued a statement asserting that it has strengthened its merchant risk controls since 2023 and terminated non-compliant client relationships. The company stated it has conducted a "thorough review" of its "high-brand-risk" (HBR) portfolio, which includes sectors such as online casinos, stockbroking, and adult dating services. These actions, Worldline noted, affected merchants representing 130 million euros in run-rate revenue in 2024. The company further stated that it maintains "zero-tolerance" for non-compliance and regularly engages with regulatory authorities.