“We are aware that technical difficulties are currently affecting our phone services, certain online Account services, and certain American Express App services,” the company said in an announcement posted on its website. “We apologize for any inconvenience. We’re working to resolve the issue as quickly as possible.”
Read more: Amex Sees Checkout Friction and Security Improvements in Overhauled 3DS2
According to Bloomberg, this issue was first reported Friday and is keeping some cardholders from making payments, leading to a glut of customer calls, which in turn has led to longer than normal wait times.
American Express issued a statement saying, “We currently are experiencing a systems issue related to the issue we experienced on April 1. While services largely had been restored and customer disruptions minimized over the weekend, today some American Express Card Members may be experiencing intermittent issues when accessing American Express products and services on the web and mobile app. They also may be experiencing longer-than-usual wait times to speak to a customer care professional. We are working to resolve the issues and apologize to our customers for any inconvenience.”
Tech blog Bleeping Computer writes that it conducted multiple tests in which it saw the American Express site’s and mobile app’s log-in screen prompting a “one-time verification” code upon each successful log-in attempt, even though the user was signing in from the same device previously used to access the account.
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Meanwhile, cyber threat intel analyst Anis Haboubi wondered if the recent attacks on Okta, Sitel, and Globant by hacking group Lapsus$ could be behind the outage, as both Sitel and Globant list Amex among their clients.
Learn more: Okta Latest Target of Hacker Group Lapsus$
However, Bleeping Computer notes that there’s no evidence of a hack here.
The hack on Okta — a digital authentication firm — was reported last month, part of a larger campaign by Lapsus$ that also targeted Samsung, Ubisoft, Nvidia, and Microsoft.
Okta said the hack could have compromised hundreds of customers, with the hackers posting what appeared to be internal screenshots from within the company’s network.
