Case studies / American Express / 2026
Emails from the bank's test system sent to a real customer
Bank · Credit card · wrong-email credit-card
- Complaint no.
- N202627016020858
- Against
- American Express
- Filed
- 8 Oct 2026
- Closed
- 10 Nov 2026
- Time taken
- 33 days
- Scheme
- RB-IOS 2026
- Closure clause
- 14(8)(e)
- Did it help?
- Partly helped
- Compensation
- None
What happened
From 10 September 2026 I received a run of emails about a card account that was not mine: statements, overdue notices, a credit warning, a cancellation for non-payment. I complained to customer service, the nodal officer and the principal nodal officer. The bank asked for my PAN and credit report, then closed the complaint saying the emails were fraudulent or spam.
What I asked the Ombudsman for
Stop the emails, explain them, ₹25,000 for harassment, and a direction not to use real customer emails in test systems.
What the entity said
To the Ombudsman, the bank acknowledged that my registered email had been inadvertently linked to a user acceptance testing account, said this was now fixed with no effect on my accounts or credit record, and offered 5,000 reward points, which I declined in writing.
My reply to the entity's response
The bank admits the test-account linkage; it sent twelve such emails over five weeks; it acted only after the RBI complaint; and it had earlier told me the emails were spam.
Did the closure deal with it? In part.
What the Ombudsman decided
The office advised the bank to issue an apology in addition to the points. The bank sent the apology on 6 November and credited the points on 9 November. Closed in 33 days as addressed, with my request for ₹25,000 and for a direction on test data not taken further.
Did the Ombudsman help?
Partly. The order set out my reply in detail and the office advised an apology on top of the points. Compensation and the test-data point were not taken up.
What I took from it
The bank told me the emails were spam and told the RBI they were its own test system. I had kept the email headers that showed they were genuine. Asking for a specific sum got an apology and points, not money, but the admission is on record.
Related complaints
- Filed the day after complaining to the issuer (American Express, 2026) Not maintainable
Summarised from the RBI closure letter and my own correspondence. Names of individuals, account numbers and reference numbers other than the complaint number have been removed.