Payvision, based in Amsterdam, has been a FinTech subsidiary of ING Bank since 2017. The company was founded in 2002 by Rudolf Booker (LinkedIn profile), Cheng Liem Li, and Gijs op de Weegh. They actually became the Amsterdam FinTech cowboys and with the dawning cyberfinance space as their wild west.

On a valuation of €360 million, ING initially acquired 75%, and in 2020 the remaining 20%. Booker and his co-founders left the company. In October 2021, ING announced the closing down of Payvision.

Payvision was notorious for supporting cybercrimes and scams. For example, the company and Rudolf Booker are listed in the court files of the Vienna Cybercrime Trials (#VCT). In it, one can learn how deeply Payvision was involved in the #VCT cybercrime via recorded and archived phone logs, emails, and chats. And quite deliberately so. Until shortly before the two masterminds Uwe Lenhoff and Gal Barak’s arrest, Payvision transferred millions to their companies despite numerous public warnings.

After the takeover, the new owner ING divested itself of high-risk segments such as porn or gambling, Reuters reported. As a result, Payvision has reportedly lost almost 70% of its customers.  Actually, the Payvision founders acquired the porn business for a symbolic purchase price (read this report here). ING already announced that it will close down Payvision.

Currently, Payvision is being charged by the NGO European Fund Recovery Initiative (EFRI) on behalf of hundreds of Lenhoff and Barak’s victims.

Based on the countless findings of the involvement of Payvision in money-laundering and illegal activities, we included it in our “Black Signal” compliance list.