Complaint Review: SPUL ( Secure processing unlimited) - Malta Internet

Rebuttal against an anonymous complaint made against SLD Payments, E-Stablisher and others.

On Sunday 22 May 2016 and individual known only as “Zane” posted a report on Ripoffreport.com alleging the involvement of the following companies and individuals in an online credit card fraud scam amounting to over ZAR 19 million. (Approx. US$ 1.2m) The companies in question are Secure Processing Unlimited (SPUL), Global Secure Processing (GSP), SDL Payments (Presumably SLD Payments) and E-Stablisher. The individuals involved include Wollie Wolmarans, Grant Mackenzie, Wil Gonzalez and Edgar Cruz. 

Further complaints were laid against the same individuals on the complaints web site located at www.xcomplaints.com. Set out below is a summary of the complaints made at the website xcomplaints.com.

Date Time Complainant Title Comments

05.24.16 18:46 Zane Husband SLD Payments – Online Credit Card Fraud First complaint, similar to Ripoff Report

05.24.16 18:49 Grant Russel E-Stablisher – Credit Card Processing Fraud Same verbiage different user

05.24.16 18:51 Jeff Foster SPUL – Secure Processing Unlimited – Online Credit Card Fraud Same verbiage different user

05.24.16 18:52 James Baker GSP Global Secure Processing – Credit Card Fraud Same verbiage different user

05.27.16 18:51 Annie Reese Payfast/SLD Payments – They stole my credit card Different verbiage

It is clear that whoever made this report is disgruntled about something, but it is also clear that these reports all emanate from the same source. It is not possible that 4 users within 6 minutes posted the same complaint with the same verbiage (apart from the title) on XComplaints. Whoever made the complaint clearly misrepresented their identity on the web site located at www.xcomplaints.com. Clearly the complaints were made by an individual who is willing to deceive and misrepresent the truth right at the outset before even consulting the facts of the matter. It is annoying to be responding to an anonymous report, however this rebuttal will set out what transpired and welcomes scrutiny by any government agency interested to follow up on this matter. 

E-Stablisher is a business referral company. Their web presence is situated at the URL www.e-stablisher.com. E-Stablisher clearly is a third party company and does not handle payment card data. As per its web site, E-Stablisher provides online merchant brokerage; this means that E-Stablisher will work with any online merchant and assist them in seeking the right solution for their business. E-Stablisher facilitates introductions only and does not manage the merchant relationship, handle settlement funds or deal with cardholder queries. Furthermore, E-Stablisher may recommend or introduce a bank, supplier, merchant or retail client to a Third Party Processor but once again E-Stablisher is not a third party processor and does not handle settlement funds. Finally, E-Stablisher offers business consultancy services to payment institutions. 

It is interesting to note that one of the complaints made to XComplaints was made by Grant Russel on 24 May 2016. Grant Russel is the name of one of the team members at E-Stablisher and could not possibly have made this report. The fact that these names match is simply too much of a co-incidence and is clearly evidence of false reports being made on XComplaints by a single individual. 

SLD Payments did process transactions based on merchant leads and applications received from SPUL. There have been several merchants who have processed transactions through this close co-operation between the two entities. The problem merchant in this relationship is the merchant in question. This was a business opportunity properly presented and processed through a partner banking relationship. As with all e-commerce merchants, banks limit the amount of volume that can be processed by new merchants to ensure that the processing performance conforms with the card schemes fraud control rules. The merchant in question breached their first month’s processing cap within 72 hours of going live and the transaction processing was suspended as this was highly irregular. Through close co-operation with the bank in question and due to effective fraud and risk monitoring controls a large portion of the processed transactions were refunded. Additional funds were held to cover the costs of the chargebacks that were processed by cardholders who did not have any knowledge of these transactions and queried these transactions with their card issuer. The chargeback ratio of this merchant’s submissions exceeded 35% when the global acceptable threshold is 1%. The merchant was clearly committing consumer fraud and the prompt and dedicated action of the staff at SLD Payments ensured that the majority of the cardholders received their money back. SLD Payments, in no way orchestrated, perpetrated or was in any other way involved with this fraudulent activity. SLD Payments has made no financial gain from this activity. In accordance with the card scheme rules cardholders have a maximum of 120 days to chargeback transactions and some of the chargebacks have been accepted outside of this period in good faith. 

SLD Payments prides itself in promoting global e-commerce and m-commerce by introducing merchants to banks and banks to payment service providers, where such relationships may be mutually beneficial. SLD Payments does not respond anonymously here and will accept and action all or any queries or requests received. The allegations contained in these reports can only emanate from the parties behind the fraudulent merchant application themselves and given that there is really only one complaint it is clear that the fraudster is abusing these complaints boards to highlight their plight that their fraudulent plan has been foiled. 

The complainant Annie Reese is free to contact E-Stablisher and request assistance in getting a refund and the respondent “Jack” who is also hiding behind anonymity is also invited to e-mail the team at E-Stablisher and SLD Payments to resolve his (or her) dispute. Both SLD Payments and E-Stablisher have public facing web sites, with contact details and e-mail addresses for any aggrieved party to contact them for a resolution, unfortunately in this case the only real aggrieved party is the fraudster who perpetrated this fraud in the first place. 

It is the view of E-Stablisher and SLD Payments that these reports are fraudulent, malicious and slanderous in nature and both entities reserve their rights in law to seek redress from this abuse. The detailed reconciliation of these transactions will be made available to any party with a valid contractual or legal interest therein.