Consumer complaint received 2016-07-30
Company: AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY
State: IL
Product: Prepaid card
Sub-product: ID prepaid card
Issue: Unauthorized transactions/trans. issues

Complaint:
I have had a American Express Serve card going on two years. I have my paycheck direct deposited into this account. I have n't had a problem until XXXX XXXX. This is the day that I had XXXX unauthorized withdrawals from my account. My paycheck is usually deposited on Thursday. I withdrew XXXX on Thursday and then sent payments to some of my credit cards. On XXXX XXXX I went to lunch at my employers lunch room and handed the cashier my card and it is denied. I 'm wondering what is going on so I go into my account on my phone and it has XXXX dollars and some change. I look at the transactions and XXXX transactions went through at around XXXX XXXX XXXX back to back. They showed up as a transfer to a woman that I have never heard of for XXXX and then the second transaction was to a man that I have never heard of for XXXX. I called AE immediately to report this. They made me change my password, pin and special question. I filed the complaint on XX/XX/XXXX.I asked the AE rep how did this happen and I was told that there would be a investigation that would take 7-10 business days. This was crazy to me that I would have to wait this long to get my money back. It listed right on my account the name of the people that my money was illegally transferred to. This should be something that they should be able to see where the request came from and where it went. At no point in time did I ever think that AE would not give my money back that was illegally taken out of my AE account. I called AE almost everyday during this time because with every passing day I would see things online that would suggest that this happens quite frequently with AE and I was concerned that my next direct deposit would be at risk. To this I was told that my account was safe because I had changed my password, pin and special question. Around day 6 or 7 I called AE and asked to speak to a Manager and was on hold for over a hour before I just hung up. I spent about a total of about XXXX and a half hours total waiting to speak to a Manager. I was finally able to reach a Manager after about the XXXX request asking for one. This Manager stated that my case was still being investigated and that I would get a email on Friday XX/XX/XXXX on a decision.I told the Manager I was also concerned with the information that the person ( s ) that illegally withdrew my money had. I asked if they had my Social Security Number or other information. To my concerns I was told that I would find out on Friday. On XX/XX/XXXX I get a email from AE saying that my claim was denied and that my account was being canceled and the money that was just deposited from my employer would be mailed to me in a check. I asked what was the results of the investigation and how did they come to their determination and all I was told was that a investigation was done and my claim was denied. At this point I have had {$1600.00} illegally taken from my AE account and a company that I thought was reputable not giving my money back that was stolen from my account. AE has n't even told me the outcome of the investigation and I know why, I NEVER gave authorization for these XXXX transfers. I am a hard working American and I want my money back. I have a family to take care of. It 's concerning that a company as large as AE wouild put a product out ( AES ) and that it would be this prone to theft and fraud. Where did my money go? Is it being used to fund terrorism? I am not the only person that this has happened to. I want a full and immediate return of my hard earned money.

Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief