Phone call from Amex asking if my business transmits money
 

Just got a phone call from Amex asking about my business, in particular in regards to my Business DL Reserve card. I was asked four questions pertaining to if my business transmits money in excess of $1k per day. Questions regarding if I transmit/receive money orders and the such.

I have hit the card pretty hard in the two months since I opened it doing MS, so it doesn't take a genius to realize that this phone call is in regards to that activity.

I have five years of tax returns for my business and did not lie about my business's revenues on the application, so I'm guessing I don't have anything to worry about in terms of a FR if it got to that point, but just wondering if anybody else here has gotten a phone call like this from Amex, and if so what happened after the phone call?

I just got that same call yesterday. Amex DL Reserve for business. Did you have any subsequent repercussions? Not sure whether call was re: cracking down on MS or money laundering/DHS suspicion.

I have searched the forums with every key word combination I can think of and this is the only post I've found re: this phone call.

Seems like they want to know if you are a "Money Services Business".

I found this:

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/20755126-post210.html

i have no experience like yours, but if i were you, i would take this as a very clear signal to SLOW DOWN

I got this question about 2 years ago.

The charges that triggered it were a *huge* volume of paypal transactions (say, 1000 a month?).

Ultimately, they asked a bunch of questions "does your business do this? does your business do that?" all about the same topic -- but never asked the obvious question "What does your business do?".

They were satisfied with a bunch of no's, and never asked again. Business ended up failing about a year ago anyway.

Phone call from Amex asking if my business transmits money
 

I think they ask this for some sort of compliance reasons. Everyone I know who has the reserve and does MS gets that call within the first year of having the card.

Odd call from AMEX.. Is this about manufactured spending?
 

Just received a call on my cell from AMEX business from the number 866-648-6163

She asked me four questions, said this was a recorded conversation, and that the questions were optional for me to answer, but if I didn't want to answer any of the questions, I had to say "I do not wish to answer this question"

1st question: "do you purchase money orders or cashiers checks in the amount of $1,000 or more"

2nd question: "have you transferred more than $1000 via cashiers checks to overseas vendors"

3rd question: "If I arrived at your place of business and wished to purchase over $1,000 in cashiers checks, would you be able to do that for me?"

4th question: "If I arrived at your place of business and wished to transfer over $1,000 to my friend in California, would you be able to do that for me?"




odd.... Not sure if this is a manuf spending check, or a money laundering check. I've recently increased spending on my plum card to around $95k per month, (was averaging around $50k) other than that, no other changes in my usage. I've been an AMEX member since 2003.



edit: a mod merged this post, I searched and didn't find this thread. Thanks mod!

Could be a call for distinction between a bank and "non-bank"
 

I think this is nothing to worry about. Due to the lack of an amount of large payments (and based in Germany) I haven't received such a call.

I would I have received such a call - it's a sign of wealthiness. :D

But from my knowledge about how the banking regulation in Germany and US work I can *assume* that the call is related to a distinction between a bank and a non-bank.

If you would operate a bank there is a large bunch of regulations (know your customer principle) and new blablabla requirements to cope with.

This is all related to that new regulations of anti money-laundry regulations. And the comparatively new opinion that the customer has to proof that "large piles of money" are his own. In former times the customs at the border had no right to ask you how much money you have with you.

Now you have to declare it and sometimes show receipts, bank statements and so on to proof that you are the eligible owner.

OT: Free market society has deteriorated in such a way that even a large luxury retailer in Germany should write down your name and address if you are buying goods for more than 12,500 Euros. And paying cash.

However he has has no right to copy your ID - it's strictly forbidden.

Therefore it is nothing to worry about.

Only a distinction if you have a business, something like a MoneyGram/WesternUnion/Anyothercompanynameyoucanimagine transfer agency or a bank.

You can start reading here:

http://www.bis.org/publ/bcbs85.htm

If you would be a bank I am sure they would send you lots of material to educate your employees about the danger of money-laundry and how to detect it.

Hope this helps

Best regards

When I first got a Business Card I was launching an EComm site and needed to test the payment function so I ran a few charges through. I quickly got a call from Amex questioning what I was doing. They slapped my wrist and told me not to do it again. While I was refunding straightaway they did point out T&C's that prevent you from "manufacturing" spend.

In your case it might just be a banking compliance issue.

Sorry to revive an old thread, but I got a phone call today similar to what was described here.

When I got the call on my cell, they asked if they could speak to me about my business and that it was not urgent. I was in the middle of shopping and said I couldn't speak. They said that was okay.

I called back about 15 minutes later and was told I they had a few optional, yes-or-no questions about my business. They asked

1) if my business transmits over $1000 in currency exchange

2) if my business cashes checks over $1000

3) if my business issues, sells or redeems over $1000 in money orders, cash equivalents, prepaid cards, etc.

4) if my business transmits payments for others

I answered "no" to all and was told that was all the information they needed. It sounded like compliance questions.

Probably. Those are all questions which, if answered affirmatively, would lead to questions about whether you have the required licenses.

But, I hope that you called the customer service number on your card and not any number provided to you on the call you received. If you call the # back and are asked any identifying questions, the so-called compliance questions could just be a cover to obtain your personal information.

If the call is legitimately from compliance, customer service will route your call.

Have you recently just used your biz card at a foreign country?

Well I did, then I got the call asking exactly the same questions:)
So, no worries.

No, no foreign use. I had been doing moderate MS so I'm going to tone that down.

Got this call today too, same 4 questions as the others. Answered no to all of them. Recently started ramping up MS on my SPG Biz card after discovering there is no pre-set limit and I can exceed the CL (jumped from around 10k to 30k spend last month).

Got a very similar call today on my husband's SPG biz card. The call was made from Indian call center. Same 4 questions. Husband's hearing is not too well over the phone due to skin diving in his youthful days. I am the AU of his card. The caller said because I was the AU I could answer the questions if we prefer. All answered negatively.

His card has had a much larger than usual spending in the period of Nov - Dec primarily due to the statement was 5 weeks long due to we changed the statement date so we could be sure that his spend was over $30K in total for 2016 to requalify SPG Gold (Marriott Gold).

Funny thing is, AMEX has upped his CL by 50% since late January, while the spend has resumed back to pre Nov level before today's call.

I got this call a while back. I spend $10k-$15k a month on my SPG business card. All legitimate business purchases for reselling. No problems.

Reading this gave me hope

I just got this call from AmEx from the same #. Opened an Amex Biz Platinum for the 100k. Hit the min spend and then some legitimately. Got a call a month later. Sounded sketchy so I refused to answer any questions. Got onto Amex chat and asked if there was any issues with the account and whether they recognized the #. They said no issues and they did NOT recognize the #. Oh well. We'll see if they close my account?

I got a letter from American Express asking me to call this number. The letter was issued by American Express Identity Protection Team.

I happened to be meeting with the local AMEX business development team today, so I asked him about it. He said the letter looked legit, but always call the number in the back of my card.

So I called, the rep asked for the number on the letter, and said that was not an American Express number. My cards are in good shape.

FYI - I have the Business Blue Plus and the Bonvoy business cards (and a bunch of personal cards). YTD spend on the business cards was about $120k. All legit business spends and no manufacturing spend on money orders, gift cards, etc. Thinking about getting the Business Plat now for the big spend bonus.

US Treasury Department has been cracking whip on all banks, peer to peer transfers, etc... in aid of clamping down on money laundering. PayPal last year began requiring "verified" accounts (linked to a bank account), for anyone wanting to receive funds. https://www.paypal.com/us/smarthelp/...enefits-FAQ734

Know your customer statues have been on books for years, and were beefed up via Patriot Act post 9/11/01. But IIRC Dodd-Frank and or subsequent legislation has upped the ante; as such all banks (and Amex is a bank), along with everyone else is doing more compliance work to cover their behinds I shouldn't wonder.

Internet has made it so easy to conduct business/financial transactions from anywhere to anywhere, but it has opened up huge avenues for fraud, money laundering and other crimes. https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdin/pr...-2000000-fraud

Reaching out to have answers to direct queries creates a record. Someone could give lies in responses, but that isn't Amex's worry.

Got the same call too, same four questions. No idea why, because I don't even do any MS on the card. All 100% legitimate normal spend.

can you give us an idea of what triggered it? ramped up spend past 25k+ in a billing period? what was the type of merchant? many banks like amex keep a list of "high risk" vendors. i know drug stores is one of them.