Is it fraud prevention or is it spending analysis?

A while ago an email came into my queue purportedly from American Express, telling me that they’d noticed some unusual activity on my account and I should give them a shout.

Well, you always have to wonder about anything that suddenly pops up and requires action that could involve you giving someone Personally Identifiable Information (PII). So I went home and called the general AmEx customer service from my landline.

And it turns out that there had been two attempted transactions at a Bloomingdale’s somewhere, and AmEx’s algorithm had sent up flares.

The customer service guy transferred me to a woman in their fraud prevention division, who asked me the same security questions the first person had, and then she went to town. The Bloomies attempts (AmEx blocked them) were definitely not mine, and there were a couple of other odd things, which she flagged up. She deactivated my account instantaneously and sent me a new card by overnight.

This happened just as one of the people I follow on Twitter was whining that his (non-AmEx) credit card was suddenly declined at a bar for no apparent reason. He was stomping about metaphorically—I don’t know whether it’s his only card, or he was just chagrinned by the refusal. But it made me think about AmEx’s approach.

On one of my annual trips home to Virginia from the UK, I went to Tyson’s Corner mall, to Nordstrom. Then I went to Tower Records (yes—it was a while ago). By the time I got to the sporting goods store in Reston and was ready to buy new runners, the POS register flashed, “Get picture ID.” In less than a couple of hours, they’d spotted the anomalous behavior (or at least the location), and were ready to step in.

This time they probably rolled within a couple of hours, too. 

In contrast, NatWest, my UK bank, took almost two weeks to notify me (by snail mail to my US address, where they’d been sending my statements for more than two years) that they’d noticed more than £700 in charges to my debit card (all made in the London area), and had I by any chance made them. 

(Keep in mind that in the entire three years I'd resided there, I'd used the card a total of three times.)

Well, no, I hadn’t, and when I finally got one of their reps on the phone, you could just hear her squirming because they had to eat all those charges. (They wanted me to file a UK police report, but when I asked her whether it should be with Thames Valley Police, where NatWest were, or the Met, because I’d lived in London, she kind of petered out. Well, maybe they could waive the police report…)

(She also informed me that it was all but a sure-fire bet that the charges were made by Royal Mail employees—they’re apparently well known for filching credit and debit cards from the post; and a card going to a US address was practically screaming to be stolen. NatWest didn’t have any provision for activating your new card from a secure/known phone number; no, no—that might have cost them a bob or two.)

So I’m continually impressed by American Express’s professionalism and customer service, especially when reminded that not all credit card companies deliver like they do.

On the other hand, I do have a suspicion that they replace my card so quickly because they’re not sure thieves could spend as fast as I do.

Which is why this resonated with me: