This is not exclusive to Amex, who do less of it than most. Seems the system today has been refocused on two things. First is identity theft. Secondly, the card people are looking for people who have been big spenders because of high current income, or reimbursement from third parties such as employers, who may have run into difficulty, or lost their jobs. When you set the paramaters for that, these kinds of things happen. In the case of Bank cards, its gotten to the point that if you go abroad on a trip, and don't tell them, after a couple of charges they cut you off. The card people created the problem by floating so much plastic, but as usual, the user gets it in the shorts.