Consumer complaint received 2018-06-18
Company: AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY
State: WA
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose prepaid card
Issue: Problem with a purchase or transfer
Sub-issue: Card company isn't resolving a dispute about a purchase or transfer

Complaint:
I was told to write a letter to dispute my concern, it has been 30 days and I have written two letters with no response. I faxed in all of my documents with the dispute and was told my documents and dispute were " invalid ''. 

On XX/XX/2018, I had my Serve Account hacked and {$360.00} transferred and stolen out of my account. I recently had opened a new account with a Bank and was getting ready to withdrawal the remainder of my funds that morning of XX/XX/XXXX. As I went to transfer the money from my Reserve account and into my Serve, upon logging in I noticed that there was only {$0.00} in my account and {$0.00} in both my Reserve and my Subaccount. I went through my transactions and noticed that there had been a transfer sent to XXXX. 

I logged into my personal email address, to find the receipt [ Exhibit A ] of the transaction that occurred at XXXX PST on XX/XX/XXXX ; The individuals first and last name listed on the emailed confirmation receipt showed XXXX XXXX was sent a money transfer in the amount of {$360.00} with confirmed transaction ID # XXXX. I called Serve right away to let them know what had happened, and I was advised that I needed to change my password along with security question ; as I have not lost my card. In retrospect, the transfer occurred at XXXX PST and I reported it no later than XXXX PST ; 5 hours later. Within the initial call, I was informed that I would not be liable for the fraudulent activity and that American Express would be liable for the losses and appreciates that I reported it as soon as I had. As well as the investigation conducted by the back-office team, would take 7-10 days. I let the Customer Service Rep know, that I would be filing a police report and would call back with the Case number, as advised. 

After the police report was filed, I immediately called in with the case number and officer on the case. [ Exhibit B ] I was informed that it would be forwarded to the back-office team for review. The following day, I called for an update and was told there is no update at this time. Of my knowledge, my card and account were still up and running. In that case, due to every dollar being stolen from my account, I had no money to get by for the week. My Sister, who has a serve account as well, attempted to send me {$200.00} and was unsuccessful. Within minutes, I received an email [ Exhibit C ] my dispute was declined Based upon our investigation we have determined that no error occurred and that transaction ( s ) in question was authorized and a second email [ Exhibit D ] was sent stating : activity that was in violation of the Serve Member Agreement, section 15D and  that my Serve account was being permanently suspended. In a complete frantic state, I call back in hopes of speaking to a Manager of which I was unable to speak with anyone except a supervisor. As a card holder, I have the right to know what is going on with my financial information, personal information and the status of my dispute. I was told repeatedly, due to my account being locked, no one could tell me the status of anything. 

Following the series of unfortunate events, I had to follow the same steps as anyone would and file an Identity Theft claim with the Federal Trade Commission XXXX FTC ) [ Exhibit E ], and as well as the Washington State Department of Financial Institutions [ Exhibit F ].

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation