14 DAY TRIAL // The American Express Company sent letters to affected customers informing them that their card details had been recovered by law enforcement.
According to the details included in the notification, the American Express systems have not been penetrated and there is a strong possibility that the card-related details have been taken from the systems of a different entity.
What is clear is the fact that the data that has been regained includes card numbers and their expiration date, names of the owners and their Social Security number.
“We were recently made aware that your American Express Card information was recovered during an investigation by law enforcement and/or American Express,” says the letter.
The company also says that in the wake of the incident there were no traces of suspicious activity on the affected accounts.
Customers who received the notification are exonerated of any blame in connection to the incident, and additional monitoring measures have been imposed on their accounts.
Furthermore, they were given a free one-year membership to a service that can help protect against identity theft by detecting misuse of personal information.
As a precaution, affected customers are advised to review the account statements more carefully for the next 12 to 24 months and to sign up for receiving free account activity alerts. Free identity theft assistance has also been provided.