Inadvertent fraud is even more annoying.

Several years ago I stayed at the Holiday Inn Munich North. One night. It sucked. What a dump.

Last summer I get an Amex bill for the Holiday Inn Munich North. Turns out another "Ian Kennedy" stayed there and upon checking out the clerk charged it to the first "Ian Kennedy" in the system. Me.

Amex refused to reverse the charge. They said they had proof that "Ian Kennedy" stayed there. Indeed they did, a guy by the same name that lives in the UK, as I had a copy of the reservation card that clearly showed it was not me. I live near Seattle.

None of the mattered. They had their "proof." Three levels of escalation didn't matter, the people on the phone were all quite polite but after every call session I'd get a letter from some douche-bag telling me they had their "proof."

But, since it was a corporate card I just sicked the lawyers on them. Didn't hear anything after that, and I got a new number.

So, it might not always be intent, just incompetence.