Glossary
Straw signer
A person paid to put their name on a company and a merchant application for a business someone else runs. It's the front that shell merchant accounts are built on, and banks and regulators treat it as fraud.
Also called: straw owner, nominee signer, front person.
In the FTC's 2026 case against Humboldt Merchant Services, recruits were promised $750 a month to form an LLC, open a UPS-store mailbox and a business bank account. The real "advertisers" built the websites, filed the applications and controlled the accounts.
Underwriters look for it: a Humboldt underwriter's 2019 email listed "calling the principal and they know nothing about their own business" and "a $500-$750 flat rate for use of their identity" among the patterns.
Advice like "have a family member sign for the account" turns up in payment forums. If the business is yours and the signature isn't, that's a misrepresentation to the bank, and the debts and chargebacks land on the person who signed.
Related terms: Transaction laundering, Merchant account, MID, KYC.