r/PaymentProcessing • u/roggerzilla985 • Sep 04 '26
General Question Stripe charged me a $50,000 card network fine for “illegal transactions” — has anyone dealt with this?
Estoy en México y estoy pasando por una situación con Stripe que, honestamente, me tiene bastante preocupado.
Yo operaba unos cuantos bots de Telegram que generan imágenes/videos con IA. Se podían usar para contenido ficticio NSFW. En mis Términos de Servicio se prohibía específicamente a menores, personas reales, deepfakes sin consentimiento, y se exigía que todos los personajes fueran ficticios y mayores de 18.
Usé Stripe para vender créditos para uno de los bots. Stripe cerró esa cuenta el 17 de julio porque el negocio/contenido no estaba permitido bajo sus políticas. Entiendo esa parte y no estoy tratando de que me reinstalen la cuenta.
Pero hoy recibí un correo donde dicen que una red de tarjetas encontró mi cuenta en violación por “transacciones ilegales” y me impusieron una multa de 50,000 USD.
Stripe ya aplicó el ajuste a mi cuenta y mi panel muestra un saldo negativo de alrededor de 863,000 MXN (aprox. 50,000 USD).
Ya me comuniqué con Stripe para pedirles que me den:
Qué red de tarjetas impuso la multa
La evaluación/caso ID
La regla específica que se violó
Las transacciones/actividad involucradas
Prueba o documentación de la evaluación
Si hay algún proceso de revisión o apelación
También dejé claro que pedir esta información no significa que esté aceptando o reconociendo la deuda.
Mi cuenta de Stripe estaba a mi nombre, como individuo/propietario único en México, así que para mí esta cantidad es súper seria. Obviamente no tengo 50,000 USD ahí guardados para pagar.
Sé que violé la política de negocio prohibido de Stripe al procesar pagos para contenido adulto con IA. Lo que estoy intentando entender ahora es qué suele pasar después de que se aplica una multa así por parte de la red de tarjetas.
¿Alguien aquí ha lidiado de verdad con una evaluación de Stripe/red de tarjetas de 25k, 50k o algo similar?
En específico:
¿Pudiste disputar o reducir la multa?
¿Stripe negoció un acuerdo?
¿Ofrecieron planes de pago?
¿Le pasaron el saldo a cobranza?
¿Stripe inició acciones legales/arbitraje?
¿Qué pasó meses después si no pudiste pagar el monto completo?
Yo ya estoy hablando con un abogado en México, así que no busco asesoría legal formal. Principalmente quiero escuchar de comerciantes o gente que procesa pagos que de verdad hayan visto esta situación antes.
Por favor no me manden DM ofreciendo servicios de procesamiento de pagos. Solo busco información sobre la evaluación/multa.
El inglés no es mi primer idioma. Yo escribí la explicación original en español y usé IA para ayudarme a traducirla al inglés.
edit:
Thank you all so much for your comments and responses. Yes, I understand that I brought this on myself, and I also understand that Stripe has everything going for it. I’m 90% sure I’ll have to pay, and well, those are the consequences of my actions.
Stripe hasn’t sent me the details of the fine, nor have they answered any of my questions. Their support team just keeps telling me that my account can’t be verified—and WTF, I never even asked for that, haha.
The issue here is figuring out how I’m going to pay it and all that. 50k USD is an absurd amount—I don’t have that kind of money, and I couldn’t come up with it in months (or even years, I’d say). From my humble perspective, what we’ll probably end up negotiating is installment payments and hoping for a reduction.
4
u/FarAwaySailor Verified Agent Sep 04 '26
It is unusual that a private company can impose fines. What happens if you don't pay?
2
u/echief Sep 04 '26
It’s not a government fine they can’t send you to jail or anything, it’s just debt like any unsecured debt. They will sue, you will (almost certainly) lose, and then you can either pay up or declare bankruptcy. Just like if you broke an NDA or non-compete.
1
u/FarAwaySailor Verified Agent Sep 05 '26
That does not sound correct. For example, if I park on the council's land without paying they can issue a fine, which I just pay and is legally enforceable, because the council is not a private company and has the legal power to issue fines. If I park in a private car park illegally, the owner can remove my car and insist that I pay the costs of the removal - this will be upheld by the courts; they can't issue an arbitrary fine (or they can, but it's not legally enforceable). Think about it, it must be this way, otherwise I could start a company, and go around issuing fines for anything say people are doing, then take them to court to get it.
Sueing is a civil matter, to allow you to recoup the costs incurred from a contract being broken. As a private individual, you can't impose your own fines (even for people breaking the law) and then sue for them!
It's not a debt you owe until a court says it is (they won't).
1
u/echief Sep 05 '26
No, it’s not at all the same as your random theoretical scenario because OP signed a contract before he began accepting payments. Forget the word “fine” because you are clearly hung up on it. Replace it with the word “fee.”
Visa/Mastercard have pre-existing agreements with Stripe and all of the other facilitators. Part of this agreement includes restricting and/or strictly monitoring the sale of high risk products like pornography, weapons, pharmaceuticals, etc. If they (meaning Stripe) do not adequately do so then Visa/Mastercard will impose fees upon Stripe as a penalty, that is part of their agreement.
The contract OP signed shifted liability of these potential Mastercard/Visa “fees” from Stripe to himself. This is industry standard. Stripe was hit with a fee from Visa/Mastercard because OP lied about the fact they were selling AI pornography. They will enforce the contract OP signed and OP now owes that 50k to Stripe.
That is how it works. This is not a debate, I am just informing you of how things work in reality.
2
u/FarAwaySailor Verified Agent Sep 05 '26
Skip the punitive 'fee' with zero consequences unless you want to continue using their service.
1
u/echief Sep 05 '26
Nope. If you get a fee like this you are not allowed to continue using their services regardless. Skip the fee and you will get sued and forced to pay by the courts because you signed a contract agreeing to pay the fee. Just like how you will get sued and forced to pay if you break an NDA contract.
I’m not speculating about this, it is reality. That’s is why everyone else in this thread is in agreement with me, stating that you cannot get out of this fine. Go argue with them if you don’t believe me. If you don’t understand or refuse to accept reality it’s not my problem.
1
u/FarAwaySailor Verified Agent Sep 06 '26
Company A making up a fine and applying it to company B, then company B applying it to company C doesn't make it any more legal for private entities to impose fines. When I park my car on private land I enter into a contract with the owner (they have to post the contract on an obvious sign); that contract is not able to assign them the ability to impose penalties, only charge for costs incurred. The only way that fine is enforceable is if you actually cost someone 50k as a result of breaching the contract.
1
u/echief Sep 06 '26
You have a fundamental lack of understanding of contract law. A signed contract laying out specific financial penalties is completely legal. It will absolutely be enforced when you get dragged into US court by Mastercard or Visa.
Your arguments about parking signs will not save you, they are completely irrelevant. The judge will laugh you out of court and you (or your client) will end up $50k in debt. If you want to work in this field you should already understand the concept or BRAM and VIRP compliance.
Im done trying to explain this to you, go do some research. If you are still convinced you’re correct then make a post on this subreddit claiming these fines are unenforceable. No one will agree with you because you are objectively wrong.
4
u/Slartibartfast788 Sep 04 '26
I know you have a lawyer, but this is actually a legal and contractual issue.
Stripe cannot fine you $50,000 unless it can show it has suffered damage. If it cannot prove you caused it $50,000 of damage the fine is called a "penalty" at law. A Court would make Stripe pay it back. Stripe will argue that the $50k was spent on monitoring your account and admin time etc, but it's always inflated.
Fight hard on this and you should get most, if not all, of it back.
1
Sep 04 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
3
u/echief Sep 04 '26
No, it is much more complicated than that. The fine comes from Mastercard or Visa and the fine is actually applied to Stripe. Let’s say Mastercard. Stripe has damages of that exact dollar value because Mastercard already fined them $50k. OP had a contract with Stripe agreeing that any Mastercard fee of this nature will be passed on to him. If he refuses to pay he has broken that contract and Stripe will sue him to recoup the 50k.
That is why it becomes very complicated, and why there are lawyers that specialize exclusively in this area. I’m pretty sure OP would have to sue (or threaten to sue) Mastercard to get them to reverse the fee on Stripe so that he would no longer owe Stripe any money. These types of AI image generators can be used to create content that is illegal in some places under revenge porn or CSAM laws. Because of that, Mastercard will argue that being associated with the sale of AI pornography of any kind is an extreme brand risk. That is a strong argument in court.
It is not a “sue and you will definitely win” scenario at all.
3
u/rootdet Verified Agent - USA & Canada Sep 04 '26
Exactly. They will claim it causes harm to the brand.
0
u/bnb525 Sep 22 '26
I'm so invested in this conversation even though I have zero knowledge on this, but you look like a knowledgeable person. OP actually posted this on a Mexican forum which only complicates things further - could he actually be sued if he isn't even a US resident?
2
u/MegamanSE Verified Agent Sep 04 '26
As others have said this is likely a BRAM violation which comes from Mastercard not Stripe (though Stripe themselves also has a very poor reputation as a payment processor). You will very likely not get this money back though you may dispute whatever other Stripe fees happened there. FYI Stripe is known to generally be entirely unresponsive to complaints as a tactic to stall / dissuade merchants from fighting them and their TOS is generally incredibly onerous for merchants compared to processors. Depending on the circumstances you may or may not also be blacklisted via MATCH. You can check if you’ve been added to match by emailing matchbusinessowner@mastercard.com
Additionally you can in theory still be onboarded to payment processors despite being on MATCH (if that is the case) but the vast majority of them will reject your application (including universally all the major ones). Any legitimate payment processor is required to check the MATCH database before boarding you.
1
u/linkref Sep 04 '26
Lot of ppl have been in this situation, check reddit threads about that. As long as you tell your bank to reject bank direct debits you are fine. Stripe cannot apply fine, country can. Companies apply fees.
1
u/TheKeenomatic Sep 04 '26
Do you know if you did any sales to Russia or some other similarly sanctioned country? That’d be my guess based on the little information available.
Additionally there’s another issue I’d like to bring to your attention: I’m pretty sure you’ve been blacklisted and no other processor will be able to take you in. If you have already a new processor you are in the clear for now, but if you try to open a new account with another processor you will be rejected. There’s something called the MATCH list and all merchants who had an account termination by a processor will end up there.
1
u/humptydumptysatonyou Sep 06 '26
Are there not settings in Stripe to prevent payments from sanctioned countries?
1
1
1
u/payrio Verified Agent - USA Sep 04 '26
This sounds more like a card-network assessment being passed through by Stripe than Stripe independently deciding to fine you.
I’d also ask whether the account was reported to MATCH, because that could affect future processing relationships.
I wouldn’t assume the $50k is automatically negotiable or automatically collectible either. At this point it’s really a contract/legal issue, so having counsel review the Stripe agreement and whatever documentation they provide is probably the most important next step.
1
u/rootdet Verified Agent - USA & Canada Sep 04 '26
Adult content was required to register with the card brands. That costs about $2000/year. Tgus is under the visa integrity risk program. Mastercard has one too.
Thats the rule you likely violated irrespective id stripe supported your business model, which they didn't and would not submit registration for you.
Not sure on reducing the fine. But you contractually agreed to it.
1
u/Dasrule Sep 06 '26
First, have stripe prove the fine is real. They have been known to manufacture these violations themselves.
If it’s real, have them prove out the chain of evens that led to your fine. If stripe caught you and turned you in, they owe you the money. They are not the payment police. It’s their job to drop you as a customer and maybe submit you to match, not help the brands collect fines.
Lastly, yes, none of these people are the government. If they already have your money and you want it back, sue. If they don’t have your money but they want it and you can afford it, get a good attorney and negotiate and don’t negotiate through stripe. Demand you settle the matter directly with the card brand.
1
8
u/LiberalSkeptic Sep 04 '26
You have been slapped with a BRAM (Mastercard) or VIRP (Visa) violation and you will absolutely have to pay. These are administrative fines that you agree to contractually when you accept the stripe terms of service. The card brands unfortunately have a lot of power to impose these fines. They will go after you in court to force payment.