Consumer complaint received 2023-06-06
Company: AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY
State: MO
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Problem with a purchase shown on your statement
Sub-issue: Credit card company isn't resolving a dispute about a purchase on your statement

Complaint:
American Express has repeatedly promised me " Fraud Protection '' for online purchases. However, when I was defrauded on a phony website set up to impersonate a trusted, legitimate business ( see below ), American Express ( through a XXXX XXXX, Corporate Office ) claimed to have a highly specific, not previously disclosed definition of " fraud ''. Their definition excludes being overcharged and swindled on a phony web site. I use the term fraud in the ordinary dictionary definition and believe American Express misled me by not stating upfront that they use a non-standard definition for the word fraud. 

***********************Description of Disputed Charge************************** On XX/XX/XXXX I did a web search with the intent of visiting the direct, official web site of the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX MO. I intended to visit XXXX XXXX site to obtain tickets for an event, and sought out the theatres website to obtain specific assurances available only by purchasing tickets via XXXX XXXX web page. In particular, by visiting XXXX XXXX site to make my purchase I expected to receive the following goods and services in exchange for my payment : *authentic tickets that I unequivocally trusted would gain me admittance to XXXX XXXX performance, and *assurance that I was buying tickets from the theatres chosen ticketing vendor at prices the theatre and preferred vendor had agreed upon. 

Unfortunately for me, XXXX XXXX XXXX and/or its associates had previously set up a phony, website with URL XXXX. I believe the website name and misleading XXXX  domain show this website was created with the intent to deceive consumers into believing that we were on the XXXX XXXX official site where we expect to receive the quality of goods and services described in 1 and 2 above. 

Believing that I was on XXXX XXXX official website I clicked to purchase tickets believing I would receive the quality of goods and services available only on the theatres official site. In particular, I believed my purchase was made using the ticket vendor chosen by the theatre and that the ticket price and fees were approved by the theater. I further expected to have no concerns whatsoever about the legitimacy of tickets purchased. I paid for certainty. 

I later learned I had provided my credit card to a fraudulent website that was masquerading as the official web site of XXXX XXXX. In particular the goods and services offered by XXXX XXXX XXXX are inferior and defective in the following ways : a ) I have no expectation or assurance that any tickets provided by a business sleazy enough to masquerade as a legitimate business will actually work on the date of the performance, and b ) I have no assurance that the price I paid matched the prices set by the theatre and its chosen ticket vendor. 

Besides creating a fraudulent website impersonating the XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX and/or its associates further intended to deceive me and the public at large by including the following statement on the fake XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX please see the lower right of the previously submitted document/screenshot ) : 100 % Money Back Guarantee This statement clearly intends to create the impression that consumers will have the option of getting all money back, when XXXX XXXX XXXX has no intention of returning money. In fact, I called XXXX XXXX Online before the charge had posted on my American Express account and asked to have the transaction cancelled. XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX refused.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation