Ugne Buraciene Payabl Scams Allegations Fact-checked (2024)
We have been monitoring the activities of Payabl, a high-risk payment processor with its headquarters in Cyprus, even while it was still known as PowerCash21. It should come as no surprise that the company is in the news because its founders were former Wirecard executives. Payabl appears to have had a successful year in 2022 based on Similarweb data, with a rise in visitors from the gaming, investment, and pornographic industries. Most recently, we found that BDSwiss, a CySEC broker, and Golden Star, an online casino, were payable clients.
Payabl’s Scam Connections
The fact that BDSwiss uses Payabl to settle payments is not surprising. Germans who are acquainted with one another are in charge of both businesses. Jan Malkus, the owner of BDSwiss, and Dietmar Knoechelmann and Ruediger Trautmann, who are Payabl’s beneficial owners, on the one hand. Payabl completed a CHF 3 million fundraising round for its BDSwiss spin-off Klarpay in Q2 2022.
It thus comes as no surprise that Golden Star Casino exists. As previously mentioned, we have already recognized additional Dama N.V. casinos as Payabl clients. The Cyprus-regulated payment processor Payabl makes sense because Cypriot Friolion Ltd serves as Dama’s payment agent.
A High-Risk Merchant Account: What Is It?
To accept debit and credit card payments, businesses classified as “high-risk” must have a high-risk merchant account. A business that is considered high-risk is one that has an increased probability of fraud or chargebacks, along with certain additional features.
Nevertheless, in the payments industry, there is no central body or structure that establishes the risk factors related to a company. Rather, each payment processor and bank has its own set of guidelines.
Certain payment solution providers may explicitly declare that specific industries are not their focus. Others will usually look for specific facts about a company in order to determine risk; based on this information, their application may be approved or denied. In the end, everything comes down to the internal standards of a payment processor and outlook towards risk management.
Last Remarks
The explanation above makes it evident that certain businesses have inherent risk issues. The term “high risk” is defined differently by each processor and merchant. More crucially, although there are a number of payment processors with simple entry points, merchants always run the risk of losing their connection at any time.
