Clever Amex scam.

I got an official looking letter this morning from some group claiming to be the "Lipuma Class Action Settlement" group, telling me that if I'd used my Amex card outside of America after 1997, I was entitled to money back from American Express due to some fraud or other. It all reads very clever, but then they ask for my name and address, telephone numbers, credit card numbers and a bunch of other stuff. Yeah right. Like I'm going to put all that info in an unsolicited mail. Still, I guess some morons somewhere will fall for it. Suckers.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Yeah, genius. That's why the domain lipumasettlement.com is registered to American Express and has American Express (gw?.aexp.com) name servers.

Registrant:
American Express Company (BQQUAPWTJD)
200 Vesey Street
New York, NY 10285
US

Domain Name: AEXP.COM

Administrative Contact, Technical Contact:
American Express Company (37848521O) gtld@aexp.com
200 Vesey Street
New York, NY 10285
US
+1 612-678-2214

Record expires on 12-May-2006.
Record created on 12-Jul-2004.
Database last updated on 25-Jan-2005 10:26:09 EST.

Domain servers in listed order:

GW2.AEXP.COM 193.32.34.67
GW3.AEXP.COM 12.104.244.61
GW4.AEXP.COM 12.104.244.62
08:27
Chris said…
IF this isn't a scam (which is certainly smacks of) then they've picked a retarded way of asking people to buy in to it. Asking for personal information on a postal form that anyone could read once it's in the mail? Social security numbers, credit card numbers, names and addresses?

It's a scam. Why would Amex own the domain of a company supposedly sueing them for millions of dollars? Doesn't that set alarm bells ringing?
11:37
Anonymous said…
I called the US District Court, S. Florida. They confirmed it is a legit case. As far as the methodology, it is poor for sure. But it is real. Personally, I'm sending mine in AND cancelling my account at the same time. Good luck.
11:52
Anonymous said…
You must have gotten a different form than I did ... no social security number required on mine and it has to be put in an envelope to be mailed; you make it sound like you have to fill out the back of a postcard. I send several letters a month with my credit card numbers (and my name and address!) in them ... when I pay my bills.

I did google the case to see if it looked legit (though the cost of snail mail phishing would surely be prohibitive) and, as a previous poster mentions, it checks out. It's perfectly normal for a defendant who is being required to implement a remedy in a case like this to have to provide the infrastructure to disburse the money (which is why Amex owns the domain). The only hit that raised a flag was your blog which just turned out to demonstrate why blogs wont be taking over from newspapers (which have editorial review) any time soon.

At least in this case any unclaimed money is going, at least partially, to charity.
22:27
Chris said…
Yes. Mine is a fold-over card that asks for a SSN as well as all the other stuff. They want it sent to a no-name PO Box in Florida. I've heard from other people that theres another mailing address, also a PO Box in Minnesota. Again, red flags that lead me to believe this is a total hoax. Either way they're getting nothing out of me.
09:42
Anonymous said…
The MN P.O. Box is legitimate. I just verified it with my company, since I have a Corporate Card with Amex. I understand Chris's skepticism, but the previous post is correct when they say American Express is bound by law (part of the settlement) to notify you of the case settlement. I am not sure if you have received other similiar correspondance from Class Action Lawsuits (MCI, AT&T Wireless, etc.). But ironically, it is in American Expresses best interest for you to NOT send your information in, that way they don't have to pay you. As far as the PO Box from Florida, I would not send anything for that, as someone pointed out it is easy to take something legit and make it look fake. But besides all of that, this Class Action is only if you had foreign currency conversions on your card. With that said most people wouldn't qualify for a refund.
15:27
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