SAINSBURY’S shoppers have been warned to lock their Nectar points to avoid them being stolen ahead of Christmas.
The second biggest supermarket has ramped up security measures in efforts to stop scammers stealing points.
In February, Sainsbury’s launched a safety feature which allows you to lock your points after customers complained their earnings had been stolen.
And just last week, the supermarket said shoppers will now need to use a QR code in the Nectar app to collect and spend points in Sainsbury’s stores.
The supermarket said the changes would help to “maintain the security of your Nectar points”.
Despite these efforts, customers signed up for its loyalty scheme are still being targeted by scammers looking to steal their hard earned points.
Dozens of posts on social media, some as recent as Tuesday, November 4, show shoppers are still being robbed.
One Facebook user shared a screenshot of scammers spending £80 worth of their points in London, even though the victim was based in Scotland.
While another shopper said they had 24,000 points (worth £120) stolen from their account.
In a recent post they said: “I’ve received an email from (Nectar) saying thanks for spending 24,000 (points) at Argos.
“I haven’t spent anything. Please contact me asap as my points have been stolen.”
With Christmas quickly approaching, experts have issued a fresh warning to shoppers encouraging them to stay alert.
Jake Moore, global cybersecurity advisor at ESET said the festive period is usually when criminals target accounts with “points that have been accumulated over the year.”
He said that until a stronger two factor authorisation process is applied or the system is replaced, it is advisable to “monitor your account activity frequently”.
“As Nectar cards are connected to finances they should ideally come with the appropriate security and protection similar to debit and credit cards.”
He said to truly take advantage of the Nectar points system, it is best to spend points as you go rather than building them up and used in one go.
Laura Suter, director of personal finance at AJ Bell, also said while Sainsbury’s move to introduce QR codes adds an extra layer of security, it “won’t stop scams entirely”.
“Criminals are always quick to find new ways to target shoppers, especially in the run up to Christmas when spending ramps up and loyalty points can be worth a tidy sum.”
Scammers targeting loyalty points is not unusual.
In March 2020, both Boots and Tesco faced cyber security issues which led to thousands of customers’ points being stolen.
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, which 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 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.”
Meanwhile, an investigation by The Daily Mail earlier this year 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.
Simon Roberts chief executive of Sainsbury’s told The Sun crime in an online environment is a “big new challenge”.
“We’re working very hard on that here and our teams do a brilliant job.”
A Nectar spokesperson also said: “Security is extremely important to us and we have a range of measures which help to safeguard our customer accounts.”
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 on which option you 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.
Meanwhile, further security measures mean customers are no longer able to spend Nectar points by using the barcode in the Nectar app.
The supermarket has urged shoppers to update their app to the latest version to access the new QR code, which will appear on the home screen.
To access it shoppers will then need to tap on their card on the home screen.
From there they must swipe left to see the barcode.
Customers who use their phone’s wallet to collect and spend points will be able to add the QR code to their wallet from the Nectar app.
