Preventing Fraud and Money Laundering

Fraud and money laundering are unlawful and harm Creators, Fans and the wider community, and they are prohibited on PlayHouse. This page explains the controls we use to prevent, detect and respond to them, and how you can protect yourself.

1. What are fraud and money laundering?
2. How do we know who we are paying?
3. How are payments protected?
4. How does money move on PlayHouse?
5. Why can't Wallet balance be withdrawn?
6. How are payouts protected?
7. What do we look for?
8. How do we comply with sanctions?
9. What happens when we find it?
10. How can I protect myself?
11. How do I report it?

What are fraud and money laundering?

Fraud is obtaining money or something else of value by deceiving someone, for example by using a stolen card, impersonating someone, or taking payment for something that is never delivered.

Money laundering is disguising money that comes from crime so that it looks legitimate, for example by moving it through purchases or payments that appear ordinary.

Both are prohibited by our Terms of Service and Acceptable Use Policy, as is any attempt to use PlayHouse to evade tax or to get around sanctions. Legitimate tax planning and compliance with tax law are not affected by this page.

How do we know who we are paying?

Every Creator must pass identity verification with our identity verification provider before their Creator account is approved: an identity document check, a liveness check, a face match between a live selfie and the document, and anti-money-laundering screening against sanctions, politically exposed persons and other watchlists. Every Agency must pass our business verification before we approve it. Identity verification must be passed before any payout is made. See Age and Identity Verification.

How are payments protected?

• Card payments through our payment processor. Payments on PlayHouse are made by card and processed by our payment processor, which also applies its own fraud screening. We do not store full card numbers.
• 3-D Secure. Card payments support 3-D Secure, so your bank can ask you to confirm a payment.
• No self-dealing. Nobody can buy from, tip or subscribe to their own account.
• Chargebacks. If a buyer disputes a card payment with their bank, their PlayHouse account is suspended. A refund or lost chargeback is recovered from the earnings of the Creator (and any Agency) that received the payment.

How does money move on PlayHouse?

When a Fan pays for something on PlayHouse, PlayHouse's platform fee, the Creator's earnings and, where the Creator works with an Agency, the Agency's commission are recorded as separate transactions. An Agency can withdraw only its own commission, never any part of the Creator's earnings, and Creator earnings are paid only to the Creator.

Why can't Wallet balance be withdrawn?

Fans and Creators can add money to their PlayHouse Wallet by card and spend it on PlayHouse. Money added by card, and any cashback, refunds or credits, can only be spent on PlayHouse: it can never be withdrawn as cash. Only earnings can be withdrawn, by the Creator (or Agency) that earned them, once verification is complete. This means PlayHouse cannot be used to turn card payments into cash.

How are payouts protected?

• Payout holds. New earnings are held for a period before they can be withdrawn, and a Creator's first payout is held for longer. Your Wallet shows which earnings are pending and which you can withdraw now. A chargeback or other deduction can restart the longer hold.
• Your own bank account. Payouts are made by bank transfer only to an account in the payee's own name.
• Review by our team. Every payout is approved by our team, and first payouts and payouts where the pattern of payers looks unusual receive additional review.

What do we look for?

Our team looks for patterns that can indicate fraud, laundering or tax evasion, including:

• a Creator's sales coming from a small number of linked cards or accounts;
• buyer and Creator accounts that appear to belong to the same person;
• many payment attempts with different cards or names, or unusually fast purchases;
• requests to pay, or to send money back, outside PlayHouse;
• arrangements designed to hide where money comes from or goes to, such as requests to split payments across accounts or to use someone else's account.

Automated text rules also check messages, captions and profile text for payment handles, cryptocurrency addresses and attempts to move a conversation or payment off PlayHouse. A direct message containing a payment handle may be held, and other matches are sent for review.

How do we comply with sanctions?

Vallara, Inc. is a US company and complies with the sanctions laws administered by the US Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), including the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List, and with other sanctions laws that apply to us.

We use network-level geographic restrictions, payment-screening rules and identity checks to block access and payments from sanctioned countries and regions and by sanctioned persons. Every Creator is screened against sanctions and watchlists during identity verification. We will not make payouts to, or knowingly do business with, a sanctioned person, and we keep our controls under review as sanctions change.

What happens when we find it?

When we detect or are told about suspected fraud or money laundering, we investigate. Depending on what we find, we may:

• hold or cancel a payout, or hold the account's earnings while we investigate;
• suspend, freeze or permanently ban the account;
• refund affected purchases to the Fan's Wallet;
• forfeit earnings obtained through fraud or other serious breaches of our Terms, after senior review;
• report the activity to law enforcement and respond to valid legal process. See Assisting Law Enforcement.

How can I protect myself?

• Keep payments on PlayHouse. Never pay a Creator, or accept payment from a Fan, outside PlayHouse. Payments made elsewhere are not protected, and asking for them breaks our rules.
• Never share your sign-in code. You sign in to PlayHouse with a one-time code sent to your email. Never give that code to anyone. PlayHouse staff will never ask you for it, and neither may an Agency.
• Add an authenticator app. You can add an authenticator app for extra protection at Settings → Security.
• Watch out for impersonators. Be wary of messages that pressure you to act quickly, offer prizes or refunds, or ask you to sign in through a link.

How do I report it?

• Use Report on the post, profile, story, comment, message, conversation, livestream or video call, and choose Spam or a scam, Pretending to be someone else or Something else.
• For a problem with a payment or your Wallet, use our contact form and choose Payments, wallet or refunds. To report fraud if you are not signed in, choose Report illegal or harmful content.
• If you are a law-enforcement agency, use our legal request form.