Consumer complaint received 2021-07-20
Product: Debt collection — Credit card debt
Issue: Attempts to collect debt not owed — Debt was result of identity theft
Company: AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY (OH)

I was contacted XX/XX/XXXX by American Express about charges on an account I knew nothing about. I told them these were not my charges. I asked why I never received anything in the mail and they told me that the statements were all sent to the 'business address only ', when I asked what that address was it turned out it was my old business I had sold in XXXX of XXXX. Long story short : I sold my business to someone who turned out to be a con man ( he has cheated me out of the items agreed in the sales agreement and ran this credit card up in my name ) and after I paid my AMEX card in full and closed the account in XXXX XXXX when I was retiring this new owner must have received mail from AMEX encouraging " me '' to reopen my account : and the new owner reopened the account some time in XXXX and then got a card in his name ( XXXX XXXX ) and then got another card in one of his employee 's ( his friend 's ) name ( XXXX XXXX ) and these two proceeded to charge {$15000.00} - {$16000.00} on this AMEX card. I told AMEX this was not my card or account, not my purchases, this card did not go with the business, these people did not have permission or authority to reopen or purchase on any account with my name on it. I continued to dispute these charges and wrote to AMEX ten ( 10 ) times and called AMEX more than ten ( 10 ) times to dispute these charges : each time I called they told me they were looking into this matter and would get back with me - - I thought this meant they were trying to find who made these charges and then arrest them, however the next thing that happened was I got served a civil complaint with AMEX suing ME for these charges made by these other people ( the new owner of my old business and his friend/employee ). I have answered the complaint, made a motion to dismiss and had one status conference with the Court where the attorney for the Plaintiff ( AMEX ) talked over me the whole time and just kept repeating " this was your account you owe this money '' when in fact I was trying to make sure he understood this was fraud and that I am a victim of identity theft and that I am not responsible for and did not make or authorize ( etc. ) these charges. I did file a police report about these charges. I did not want to believe the person who purchased my business was a con artist, he is a preacher and I really thought he was a good person ( but con men are very convincing otherwise people would not give them money ). So the latest development is that this attorney for AMEX has filed an opposition to my motion to rule on the pleadings/motion to dismiss ( one of the first things he says is that I should be responsible for these charges because I have not yet filed a complaint against the person who made the charges : I am a retired senior citizen on a limited budget and did not hire an attorney to handle this case : I figured it would be EASY : I did not make these charges, this is identity theft/fraud : HOW DIFFICULT COULD IT BE?!? Well : it is turning out to be pretty difficult and this attorney for the plaintiff is a JERK. What in the world?!? Does this happen all of the time when there is identity theft/fraud? I can not believe that is the case. I do not know why this is happening and what is going on -- -I am in no way responsible for the charges that these other people made, I paid my AMEX in full and retired XXXX. A card was reopened in my name in XXXX ( without my knowledge or permission, e.g. theft/fraud/identity theft/financial crimes against the elderly, etc. ) and someone else ( two people apparently ) charged it up until they could charge no more and of course never made any payment. I have spent my whole life working hard and paying my bills on time. This person ( XXXX XXXX ) has many financial cases against him, including current ones ( and fraudulent charges as well ) -- -I have nothing but this case which is of course an error. This other person is a criminal and I am being sued for what he did. Help! I thought I'd be able to explain this situation and it would be simple -- -- this attorney I think knows that Mr. XXXX has no money and he is about to lose the properties he owns to back taxes : I think the attorney thinks that I have more money than Mr. XXXX so he is going after me. However I did not make these charges, I am not responsible for them, this is a clear cut case of identity theft/fraud. I think the attorney was hoping I would not answer so that he would get a judgment against me and then he'd be able to go after whatever I have. I did answer because I did not make these charges nor permit them to be made : this whole thing was done by a con artist/criminal without me knowing anything until I got the call in XXXX of XXXX from AMEX. I've tried working with the fraud department at AMEX and they finally just sent me the statements with the charges made by the other people ( you can even see after a short while they were so bold they requested cards in their own names, XXXX XXXX and XXXX XXXX, that is BOLD ) and I wrote 'fraud ' as in 'not my charge ' on each and every charge made by these criminals and faxed it back to AMEX as directed. I checked back with them and they said they did not get them. I am retired and do not have a fax machine at home, I had to pay to have them faxed now twice. I re faxed them and am going to call to see that they got them but have a feeling that they are going to say the did not. I do not understand? Is this AMEX current way of making money? Charging senior citizens for things they did not do? Making me pay for the items this criminal bought? I paid my account faithfully for many, many years, I bought my business from my father and had worked there my entire life -- -selling it was difficult and emotional for me but I thought I was selling it to a good person, a pastor for goodness sake -- -he got the building with grant monies only, he could not get a loan ( but had a contract with XXXX XXXX for almost a XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX dollars, which they sued him about, 48 counts of negligence and similar charges he was lying and making up people and faking paystubs and turning them in to get draws for himself, he lost that case ) and I allowed him to sign a sales agreement taking over the two business bills I had left ( NOT the AMEX card ) he agreed to take over those payments and also pay me additional funds, this was in XX/XX/XXXX ( he got the business and equipment for my XXXX XXXX at 3 locations ) and guess what? He has not paid me XXXX XXXX for the businesses or equipment. He 'paid me ' for the building WITH GRANT MONEY so he got my business for NO MONEY OUT OF HIS POCKET. I've called him many, many times since the sale to ask when he is going to pay me : he has excuse after excuse, I still was not onto him until this whole thing came out with the credit card : I still thought he was a good hearted honest person (! ) SILLY ME! So he cheated me out of my businesses and equipment by not paying what he was supposed to pay ( not XXXX XXXX ) and he got the building using grant money only so he got it for free. Not XXXX XXXX XXXX out of his pocket. He has been sued for foreclosure at least twice, he has two cases pending in XXXX Muni court for monies owed and not paid ( XXXX XXXX for over {$6000.00} and another company ) and got sued recently by XXXX XXXX over that contract fraud ( 48 counts, all different kinds of fraudulent things he tried to do to cheat and steal and lie ) plus he owns two properties and he is severely behind on property taxes on both of them : how does this attorney for AMEX think I am the person who made charges and did not pay on them? I have never done that in my life. This is identity theft/fraud -- -just because the person who did the fraud knew me : that doesn't mean I had anything to do with it : I sold him my business : he was getting mail there in my name that I knew nothing about ( including statements for the AMEX that the rep told me were all sent to the business ) -he took advantage of that situation and used my good credit to open a card for himself and his friend and they charged until they could charge no more. I am at a loss as to what to do. It seems like we are heading for trial (? ) like this attorney is just going to keep telling me I am responsible for paying the charges this other person XXXX people but really Mr. XXXX was the ring leader I am certain he was the owner of the business ) made. Help!!!!?!