Worldline shares tumble over media allegations of fraud cover up
Worldline shares plunged by 20% after multiple media outlets alleged that the French payments processor covered up client fraud to protect revenue
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The "Dirty Payments" investigation, which was led by the European journalism network EIC and 21 media outlets said it based its reports on confidential internal documents and data from Worldline, alleged the company accepted "questionable" clients across Europe, including pornography, gambling and dating sites.
According to the reports, Worldline regularly looked the other way when customers were linked with suspicious transactions, fearful about the hit to revenues, and if a division had too many fraudulent customers, they were moved to another division.
Responding to the allegations, Worldline said in a statement that since 2023 it has strengthened merchant risk controls and terminated non-compliant client relationships.
The company said it has conducted a "thorough review" of its high-brand-risk portfolio, such as online casinos, stockbroking and adult dating services, since 2023, affecting merchants representing 130 million euros in run-rate revenue in 2024.
It added that it maintains "zero-tolerance" for non-compliance and engages regularly with regulatory authorities.
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Daily Mail
26 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
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Times
an hour ago
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an hour ago
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