Not upheld: Account closure without notice complaint against American Express Services Europe Limited

Decision detail

Summary

Mr A complained that American Express improperly lodged a fraud marker on CIFAS after he provided an edited bank statement during an account review. Mr A claimed he edited the statement by mistake while preparing a work presentation on fraudulent documentation. American Express believed Mr A deliberately provided fraudulent information and closed his account. The ombudsman found Mr A's explanation implausible given the suspicious circumstances, including that the edited statement was the one American Express requested and was sent from his personal email, combined with his history of nearly 60 chargeback claims in 18 months. The ombudsman concluded Mr A acted deliberately and that American Express met the required evidential threshold, so the complaint was not upheld.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found the coincidence suspicious that the edited statement happened to be the one American Express requested, and that Mr A used his personal email to send it, making an accidental error unlikely. The ombudsman was not convinced by Mr A's explanation that it was an error made while preparing a work presentation. The pattern of nearly 60 chargeback claims in 18 months suggested Mr A was stress-testing the account for genuine transactions. The ombudsman concluded Mr A acted deliberately and that American Express met the required evidential threshold to lodge the CIFAS marker.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website