I hate to be the fly in the ointment and I'm sure that most will not be affected by this, regardless of approach, but
it is illegal to lie on a credit or loan application. It is fraud. Might even be felonious fraud. The kicker is that it's real easy to prove. And, I'm sure the IRS would love to know where you're stashing the "$500,000" that
Fly By Night Phantom Point Earners, Inc. supposedly earned last year.
Will you get away with it from Amex and the IRS? Possibly, maybe even probably, but the risk-to-reward ratio is way too high in my opinion. Don't do anything wrong and you'll never have to worry about getting caught.
Worst case scenario, you lie, get caught and still don't get approved for the points or have the points taken away because you committed fraud to get them...And Amex notes the default and reason to the credit bureaus.
Now, as for the honest applicants...awesome! Wish this deal existed when the Mrs. & I signed up!