Fraud protection

If you’ve checked your transactions and believe you may have been a victim of fraud, call us immediately at 0800 656 660 any time of the day or night, 7 days a week. Let us know which transactions appear fraudulent, and we’ll be happy to help.

As part of our regular screening of Card Member transactions, our systems will look for unusual transactions this could include purchases outside your normal spending habits. When we identify suspicious activity, we may try to contact you to verify whether the transaction is legitimate. However, there may be cases where we will try to prevent a potential fraudulent transaction by putting a hold on your Account transactions.

Using your Card online is safe and easy as long as you follow one simple rule only ever use secure web pages. A web page is secure if there is a locked padlock in the lower right hand corner of your browser, or if the address starts with ‘https’, where the ‘s’ stands for secure.

Remember, it’s still safe to continue using a Card with a magnetic stripe when shopping online. Our Fraud Protection Guarantee ensures that Card Members will not be held liable for any proven fraudulent charges, so long as they have taken reasonable care.

If you’re a victim of online fraud, have taken reasonable care to protect your Account details, and can provide any necessary information to our Fraud Department, you won't be held responsible for any fraudulent charges.

In an attempt to get hold of sensitive financial information, fraudsters send fake emails, create bogus websites and make phone calls, pretending to be from a bank or Credit Card company. This is designed to deceive consumers into divulging personal, financial, or Account information.

Some common signs of phishing can include:

• Company logos: emails using company logos and asking you to update your Account information urgently by return email or by filling out an online form.
• Email attachments: emails with attachments asking you to install software which actually allows fraudsters to record your computer key strokes.
• Text errors: emails that contain typographical or grammatical errors.
• Popup windows: windows that pop up over a legitimate company's website asking you to enter personal information.
• False urgency: messages asking you to act urgently – i.e. stating that unless you do something right away, your Account may be closed or suspended.
• Incorrect information: the email does not use your proper name, or uses a nonspecific greeting such as “Dear customer”.

If you’re in doubt about the authenticity of an email, contact us through the the phone number provided on your statement or your Card. If we call you, we may ask a few security questions so we can be sure who you are. We’ll normally ask only for partial answers to these questions.

• Never release your Card number, Card security code, PIN or password to an unknown person or organisation.
• Beware of anyone calling or emailing you and requesting security information.
• Do not open emails which you suspect as being spam.
• Do not respond to emails from unknown sources or open their attachments.
• Think before you click on links in emails from unknown sources. Instead, roll your mouse pointer over the link to reveal its true destination.
• Beware if this is different from what is displayed in the text of the link from the email.

If you receive an email relating to American Express that you believe could be fraudulent, immediately forward it to Anti.phishing.team@aexp.com. Make sure you don’t include your account number in the email.

Be sure to advise us if a new Card has not been received. Sign your new Card as soon as it is received, and keep it safe at all times. Destroy any old or expired Cards by cutting them up.

• Never give out your Card details or American Express user ID.
• Never lend your Card to anybody else. Your American Express Card is nontransferable, meaning that other people are not allowed to use it. If you still lend your Card to another person even with permission, you will be held responsible for all charges they make.
• Always let us know if somebody else learns of your PIN or code.
• Contact us as soon as you realise your Card has been lost or stolen.
• Always practice safe computing, using virus scanning software and other similar online safeguards. Only use secure websites.

Your security is important to us. In the unfortunate event of a fraudulent transaction on your account, we offer a Fraud Protection Guarantee. It states that if you’re a victim of fraud who has taken reasonable care to protect your account details, PIN and any device on which you have added your Account information, you won’t be held responsible for any fraudulent charges.