Consumer complaint received 2019-06-17
Company: AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY
State: PA
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: Gift card
Issue: Problem with a purchase or transfer
Sub-issue: Card company isn't resolving a dispute about a purchase or transfer

Complaint:
I'm writing to report a scam I was the victim of on XX/XX/19. I'm reporting this in hopes that no one else falls for these gift card scams which have become very common. I feel there are three major issues that need to be addressed. 1. ) American Express ' lack of internal controls and fraud dection/prevention. 2. )  XXXX 's lax cyber security protocols that put me on the radar of gift card scammers & 3. ) XXXX XXXX lack of internal controls that allowed several anomalous gift card purchases with the same card without flagging these transactions as suspicious. I feel all these issues need to be addressed to protect consumers. 

The back story : I was targeted through a XXXX scam on XX/XX/19. I had money from XXXX that I was lead to believe I was going to lose unless I claimed it by a certain day ... I called the number which I thought was XXXX.. My account had been compromised and they asked if I could buy gift cards to prove it was me to claim the money ... My problem was I couldn't get into my XXXX account BC I didn't have the right password ... After talking with who I thought was XXXX they told me to buy gift cards from XXXX since they are link companies. They had all my personal information, phone number, email, address, and information on the tickets I sold to claim the money ... I was directed to buy gift cards using my American Express ( I used AMEX BC they have a stellar reputation for fraud cases ) I was sent to 5 different stores in the matter of 4 hours buying gift cards to prove it was me. I was led to believe that this was XXXX the entire time ... After I started to feel uncomfortable spending upwards of {$5500.00} on gift cards in 5 different stores I cancelled the call and imediately called America Express to explain how I was scammed and led to believe XXXX wanted me to do these things. After hours of research I found more information on gift card scam. I explained this to the people of American Express they quickly put my account on monitor to see the charges ... The charges finalized and I then called American Express back and talked to someone in the fraud department ... They pretty much told me they cant do anything to help me BC I was present when my card was used .... I explained that the purchases were made under false pretences BC I trusted these people where XXXX ... After American Express didn't help me I then called XXXX. They pretty much told me they cant do anything BC I don't have an account ... I explained they sent me emails to my personal email address telling me I had these tickets I was gon na lose the money for. I was informed that it wasn't XXXX it was a fake email account using the XXXX name. 


There's are several fundamental issues of negligence here. First Amex has internal controls and fraud alerts for regional charges where if a card is charged in the east coast and then the west coast within minutes as this would be impossible for a legit card holder to do. They also offer protections for rather large tip adjustments on restaurant charges. 

Why would AMEX not flag the purchase of {$5000.00} worth of gift cards among 20 gift cards, when gift card fraud has become a major issue these days. What if this happened to the elderly. Sadly it does and I feel AMEX doesn't have the proper controls in place to protect it's customers Another issue is XXXX XXXX   possible lax cyber security. How could a these scammers get my info and contact me after a legitimate XXXX transaction? And if the leak wast with XXXX, then it'd have to be with XXXX. 

Finally XXXX needs to improve it's internal controls as they are selling financial products that are widely used in fraud. 

These issues must be addressed as it seems there's a serious hole in the bucket here and I feel nothing will be done about it until an unfortunate amount of consumers get ripped off. 

Thank you for your time,

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation