Yeah, I agree with you. Automation isn't brilliant. But I don't see there being any fraud or misrepresentation in exploiting the loophole - I mean, all the information I provided on all 3 apps was honest, and it was they who chose whatever criteria allowed their system to approve me for 3 cards. (As a counterexample, Citi only seems to allow 2 apps within a 60-day period, in most cases).

And incidentally, I was able to combine most of the credit limits when I closed the duplicates, so I now have a credit line close to 3x what I was originally approved for on the one card. Again, perhaps not the intended effect, but works for me.