SHOPPERS have been issued a reminder to lock their Nectar card after an outraged shopper had two years worth of points stolen.
Sainsbury’s launched a safety feature in February, which allows you to lock your points after customers complained that their points had been stolen.
But experts have issued fresh warnings to customers to make use of the security measure, as shoppers continue to post on social media about their points being swiped.
Jake Moore, global cybersecurity advisor at Eset told The Sun, customers should monitor their account activity “frequently to detect and report any unauthorised actions promptly”.
He said: “It’s is especially important to monitor accounts more often just before Christmas as this is usually when criminals target accounts with points that have been accumulated over the year.”
When an account is locked customers can not use the loyalty rewards to get money off their shop, but can still collect points if they scan their card at the till.
Increased security was rolled out earlier this year after an investigation by The Daily Mail, found that over 12million Nectar card points worth nearly £63,000 had been stolen from shoppers.
It was reported last October that criminals were using social media channels to sell 1,000 Nectar accounts at a time.
But even though new security measures are in place, many shoppers are still claiming their Nectar rewards have been swiped.
Since the lock feature was introduced around 14 people have posted on X about the issue, including one who said she had had “£15 stolen”.
In a recent post she said: Someone has stolen 3000 of my nectar points?
“I have never been to Twickenham in my life and I have been saving these points for two years to help pay for Christmas, please look into this.”
One Nectar point is worth 0.5p, with 100 points worth 50p and 200 points are worth £1.
Consumer expert Martyn James told The Sun the majority of customers will be “unaware” their Nectar points have vanished.
“That’s because we rarely look at the app or check the total on our receipts.”
He added: “Download the latest version of the app and activate the lock feature.
“But Sainsburys need to reassure customers about why this is happening so we can shop with confidence.”
He also said customers should download the latest version of the app and “activate the lock feature”.
A Nectar spokesperson told The Sun: “Nectar is one of the UK’s biggest loyalty schemes, with over 23 million members.
“The security of our customer accounts is our highest priority and the proportion of those impacted by fraud each year is very small.”
“We have a range of measures which detect, and in many cases prevent fraud, including our Spend Lock feature.
They added: “Our Nectar Helpline team are on hand to support any customer who suspects they may have been a victim of fraud.”
HOW TO LOCK YOUR NECTAR CARD POINTS
If you are a Sainsbury’s customer you can find the feature in the Nectar Card app, which can be downloaded in the Google Play or Apple store.
Once that is downloaded, you then need to go into settings and click on the section which reads “Lock or Unlock Spending”.
There will be an option to click which option you would prefer.
You can change whether you want to lock or unlock your points any time you like by using the app.
Shoppers can continue to earn points as they shop and get money off when it is locked.
But it means customers will not be able to use any of their points to get money off their shopping or any other deals until the cardholder unlocks the points in the app.
When you choose to unlock your points it is usually instant but may take longer in busy stores or during busy times.
If you want to use the points you have locked it may be best to unlock them before you shop.
Scammers tried to steal £250 worth of Nectar points from me
Carrie-Ann Skinner, 41, from Crayford in South East London, had spent a year building up points by regularly shopping at Sainsbury’s.
She had two-factor authentication enabled on her account, it meant that when she attempted to log in to Nectar she was sent an email with a verification code.
Without this function, she may not have been alerted when hackers tried to access her account.
In July last year she received a verification code email, despite not requesting one.
Carrie-Ann told The Sun she thought it was “a bit strange” when she got the notification but after checking her Nectar app, everything seemed fine so she “thought nothing else of it”.
But later in the day, she had an email saying the address on the account had been changed, to what she says was a completely different address to her own.
It’s not clear how the address was changed, as Sainsbury’s says the hackers weren’t granted access to the account.
She quickly changed her password and contacted Nectar, which fixed her address.
Carrie-Ann then changed her password three times.
However, days later she had another email saying her address had been changed again to the same new address.
Nectar then put a permanent block on her card and transferred £250 worth of points to a new card.
Carrie-Ann was left “very angry” and confused by the situation.
“They said everything would be fine, but to be honest, I didn’t believe them because I changed the password three times,” Carrie-Ann said.
“So if the password had been leaked, they shouldn’t have been able to get in the second and third time.”
As a former technology journalist, she says she is hot on spotting phishing scams, using complex passwords and not posting too much information online.
A spokesperson from Nectar said it had seen evidence of fraudulent attempts to gain access to her account, but denied hackers that had ever accessed it.
It says it blocked Carrie-Ann’s original Nectar account to keep her balance safe and transferred the points to a new account, showing their security measures worked.
Carrie-Ann said she no longer keeps too many Nectar points on her card – no more than £20 at a time – in case she is targeted again.
The 41-year-old has also changed her passwords and her email on her Sainsbury’s shopping account.
A Sainsbury’s spokesperson said: “The security of our customer accounts is of the utmost importance and we have a range of measures in place to help us detect, and in cases such as these, prevent fraud.”
