Consumer complaint received 2021-09-01
Product: Credit card or prepaid card — General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Problem with a purchase shown on your statement — Card was charged for something you did not purchase with the card
Company: AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY (MA)

Yesterday I was the subject of a sophisticated phone scam resulting in a fraudulent charge of XXXX {$3300.00} on my American Express card relating to an unauthorized e-commerce transaction on what appears like an online website in XXXX XXXX. 

I received a call at XXXX on XX/XX/31 from Ph. # ( XXXX ) XXXX : my cell phone displayed American Express as the caller from that number. The scammer introduced himself as an American Express ' employee needing to verify two charges on my American Express card which he claimed had just occurred in Texas : one for {$720.00} and one for {$410.00}, both relating to International Travel and Tourism. I declined both charges as being unauthorized : I explained I'm based in XXXX and I had not traveled to Texas nor had I incurred those two charges. He then asked for additional details on my card in order to be able to decline the two charges : he asked for last 5 digits of my Amex card, last 4 digits of my SSN, front and back security codes on my Amex card, and my mother 's maiden name. He then claimed that American Express was going to introduce a two-step verification system in order to use my card out-of-state and internationally going forward. At that point he said I was about to receive an email with a verification code from American Express as part of the new two-step verification process and that I should read the code back to him. At XXXX I received the email from American Express with the verification code and I read the code back to him. Immediately after ( at XXXX ) I then received another email from American Express asking to review a charge of XXXX MYR from XXXX XXXX and showing that this charge had been approved : this charge - which I had never authorized and is fraudulent - immediately appeared in my American Express online account as a charge for US {$3300.00}. 
When I received the email from American Express at XXXX asking me to review the charge and saw the USD charge appear on my American Express online account I asked the caller what that was about and he claimed that it was not a real charge but that the email was only meant to show how the two-step verification process would work when using my card for foreign transactions. He also told me that the two original charges he had called to alert me of would post on my American Express account the following day but they would be declined. At that point he ended the call ( which lasted a total of approx 29min ).

I then immediately called American Express ( at XXXX ) to verify the legitimacy of the call I had just received but they told me on a recorded line that they had no record of the two transactions for {$720.00} and {$410.00} while on the other hand they did see a charge for US {$3300.00} from XXXX XXXX . I explained to American Express the scam I had just been the subject of and notified American Express that the charge from XXXX XXXX ( apparently an online ecommerce website in XXXX XXXX ) was fraudulent and unauthorized. 

The charge is now pending in my American Express account while American Express investigates further. Meanwhile, I have reported the fraud to the Federal Trade Commission ( FTC Report # XXXX ).