Consumer complaint received 2018-01-25
Product: Credit card or prepaid card — General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Other features, terms, or problems — Problem with customer service
Company: AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY (GA)

I made purchases and wired money totaling {$10000.00} to XXXX XXXX whom I met online and had been communicating with since XX/XX/XXXX. He said that he would reimburse me by making an online payment to my American Express credit card and I agreed. 

XXXX XXXX made an online payment of {$21000.00} to my American Express account on XX/XX/XXXX. I asked him why the payment was more than what he owed to me. He stated that he needed me to make purchases for him since he was working in a remote area of XXXX and had been mugged. He needed to sell the items, gift cards and XXXX, to raise money to pay his bills in XXXX return to the US. He said that he only had online access to his banking accounts but had no way of retrieving the funds at his location since he lost his IDs and credit cards during the mugging. 

I called American Express customer service on XX/XX/XXXX prior to making any purchases on my account. I specifically asked if the {$21000.00} deposit had cleared and if the funds were available. I was told that the deposit had cleared and the funds were available because the deposit was made online. I began to make the purchases that XXXX XXXX requested of me, only because the information that I was given. I believed that the deposit into my account had cleared. 

XXXX XXXX made a second deposit of {$13000.00} on XX/XX/XXXX and a third deposit of {$7500.00} on XX/XX/XXXX. The amount of deposits made into my account totaled {$42000.00}. 

XXXX XXXX XXXX, an employee of American Express called me on XX/XX/XXXX inquiring about the deposits and purchases recently made on my account. I explained the full situation to her. She suggested that I was a victim of a scam. I gave her all the information that I had including names, phone numbers and addresses of the people that I shipped the merchandise to. I stressed that I called customer service to verify that the deposit had cleared prior to my making the first purchase. XXXX XXXX XXXX informed me that I would be responsible for making payments to cover all the charges on my account. I spoke with XXXX XXXX XXXX one or two times following the initial call. 

I called Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on XX/XX/XXXX to explain what had happened and was given the contact information for the Federal Trade Commission and the web address consumerfinance.gov. I was given an Inquiry Reference Number XXXX for my call. 

I called the American Express Fraud Department on XX/XX/XXXX and spoke with XXXX XXXX XXXX. She said that this wasnt a matter of fraud because I had made the purchases on the account. I explained that I did not agree that I should be held responsible for the charges since I called American Express first to verify the deposit. I asked her how I could escalate this with American Express. All that I was given was the web address to file a complaint with the Internet Crime Complaint Center within the FBI, www.ic3.gov. 

I am asking American Express to wave the charges made to my account following my conversation with customer service on XX/XX/XXXX where I was told that the deposit had cleared and the funds were available.