Key Data

• Trading Name: Maxpay
• Legal Entity: Maxpay Limited, Maxpay Holding Limited
  
• Activities: payment processor and merchant service provider
• Location: Malta
• Authorization:  no
  
• Related individuals: Max Polyakov, UBO (LinkedIn)
  Artem Tymoshenko, CEO and shareholder (LinkedIn)
  Stephen Balzan, advisor (LinkedIn)
  Denitza Dimitrova (LinkedIn)
  

Maxpay is a Malta-based international payment processor and merchant service provider. Maxpay was launched in 2014. In 2020, the payment processor announced that it had processed $2,6 billion and over 251,4 million transactions since its inception.

Founder/Owner:

Maxpay is controlled by Ukrainian-born tech entrepreneur Max Polyakov through his Malta-registered companies Maxpay Limitedand Maxpay Holding Limited. Maxpay CEO Artem Tymoshenko is a minority shareholder. Polyakov has his entrepreneurial roots in online porn, dating, and gambling.

Around 2010, he joined Cupid PLC, a company listed on the London Stock exchange, with his then-partner Bill Dobby to run several online dating sites. According to a report from Kyiv Time, the company’s revenue was $125.4 million, and its capitalization reached $204.9 million. Investigations by BBC and Kyivpost caused a sharp decline in share prices. In the Summer of 2013, Polyakov acquired Cupid’s “casual dating business” vis his Grendall Investment Limited.

Polyakov later formed Together Networks, which allegedly runs nine porn or dating websites: NaughtyDate, Loveaholics, UpForIt, Flirt, IWantU, QuickFlirt, BeNaughty, AffairDating, IAmNaughty.

According to Snopes‘ investigation, Maxpay in Malta is used not least to process payments for these porn and dating sites of Polyakov. Maxpay is listed on the Orange Compliance list by the CyberFinance rating agency PayRat42, citing the Snopes reports.

The Offering

Maxpay provides a payment gateway and offers hosted payment pages. Additionally, the payment processor offers a range of merchant services, including fraud protection and chargeback alert service (Ethoca Alerts) to protect the merchants’ money and reputation.

Maxpay works with the largest banks in Europe, the USA, Canada, Great Britain, and Asia. It has PCI DSS 1 certification and is an official partner of Qualis and Ethoca, data security and fraud protection leaders.

Pricing:

2,9% plus €0,25 per transaction

Costumers

According to extensive research by Alex Kasprak, senior reporter at Snopes, subscription trap scams account for 61.6% of referral traffic to Maxpay. Moreover, 21% of the referral traffic comes from fake merchants used for sweepstake schemes. Nearly 24% of Maxpay‘s traffic comes from online dating websites. One Night Friend, Flirt, Uniform Dating, Tender Meets, and BeNaughty are all associated with Maxpay founder and controlling shareholder Max Polyakov or his Together Networks.

Conclusion

Maxpay is an unregulated payment processor. The website provides the required information about the operator. However, Maxpay appears on the notorious offshore leak platform and has a history as a payment facilitator for binary options schemes. Maxpay was one of the payment processors for the GreyMountain Management scheme of the Cartu Brothers. Moreover, reports on Snopes reveal that Maxpay facilitates scams and shabby businesses.

Thus, we place the company on our “Red Compliance” list.