What Happened

I want to share something that just happened to me. I was shopping online, and my card transaction didn’t go through. Then I opened the app and saw an exclamation mark. Of course, this exclamation mark was not FR (it really does look similar); looking more closely, it said Fraud Alert. The card had been frozen.

In my previous experiences with Fraud Alert, I would only receive an email, and I could simply click the link in the email to confirm that the purchase was mine. This time was a bit different. Here is the background:

  • This card is an authorized user card under a family member’s account, and it was opened less than a month ago.
  • I’ve been putting a lot of spend on it recently to meet the spending requirement.
  • Only the card that triggered the Fraud alert was frozen; the other cards were still working normally.
  • The primary card for this authorized user card was also working normally.

I did receive an email, but unlike before, there was no direct verification link in the email. It explicitly told me to call the phone number on the back of the card as soon as possible. Interestingly, the App only said that calling was an optional solution.

With no better option, I called, and the customer service rep actually said, “That’s not right—your card looks completely normal.”

At that point I was thoroughly confused. I repeatedly asked the not-so-helpful rep to look into it. After a long while, the rep said they needed to access the account and asked me to verify the three-digit code on the back of the card and the password on file [otherwise they couldn’t see what had happened].

After verification, the rep said, “Oh, now I get it. I can see your transaction was declined and triggered Fraud” [isn’t that exactly what I told you at the beginning...?]. The rep then told me, “You need to be transferred to the Fraud Department; only they have the authority to handle this.” [If you don’t have the authority, why tell me to call?] “Would you like me to transfer you right away as quickly as possible?”

By then I was already pretty speechless. I was just about to let the rep transfer me to Fraud when I noticed there was actually an unlock option in the banner area on the website. It showed “Verify your attempts” (including the underline). After clicking it, I first had to verify the front and back CVV, then receive a code for verification [by email or phone]. Once that was done, the issue was resolved. Since I was on the phone at the time and didn’t have enough hands free, I didn’t take a screenshot. Its approximate location is inside the red box in the image below.

After completing the verification, the exclamation mark disappeared from both the app and the card image on the website, and the card could be used normally again. So if this happens to you, remember to check there first. It’s convenient, fast, and saves a lot of hassle. After the unlock succeeds, AMEX will also send you a text message confirming everything is good to go.

Additional Notes

AMEX has been putting me through the wringer lately, and I’ve run into a lot of situations that I normally wouldn’t. I’ve been too busy recently to share them, but once I get through this stretch, I’ll gradually write up a few interesting posts for the readers of this site.