Nectar customers have hundreds of pounds of points stolen just before big Christmas shop
SAINSBURY'S customers have reported that Nectar points are being stolen, with hundreds of pounds worth vanishing overnight.
Angry shoppers have reported saving points up for big Christmas shops only to discover they have been stolen or spent.
The missing points have been particularly distressing for people who have been putting points aside to offset the cost of Christmas.
One distressed customer Graham Fretwell tweeted: "We have just realised all our nectar points have been stolen!!!! We save them all year for Christmas".
Customers who have contacted Sainsbury's, which owns Nectar, to try and resolve the issue say that have been surprised to find the Nectar team has referred them to the police,
Mark Wratten added: "Hi, I’ve just noticed 10,000 points have been stolen from my account and spent at a store in Derby whilst I was using my card in Aylesbury!
"Loss of points is frustrating, can I retrieve? More importantly how do I stop happening again?"
Gail Watson also tweeted: "My partner's card has been hacked and our joint nectar points have been stolen. Please advise"
How do I spot a phishing scam?
COMMON signs a message is part of a phishing scam include:
- The spelling, grammar, graphic design or image quality is poor.
- They know your email address but not your name. The message will begin with something like: "To our valued customer" or "Dear..." followed by your email address.
- The email address doesn’t look right. Businesses and organisations don’t use web-based addresses such as Gmail or Yahoo, so this is usually a red flag.
- The website isn't quite right. If you hover over the the link - don't click! - it should show you where it leads. Compare the URL to the legitimate website for the company.
- If money has been taken from your account, or there are withdrawals or purchases on your bank statement that you don’t remember making.
Another shopper, Marianne has tried to contact Nectar about her missing points, but was directed to speak to the police.
She told the This Is Money: "I have had 18,000 points spent on my Nectar card two months ago and it wasn't by me.
"Nectar told me to contact the police so I did but they told me they have too many things going on to bother with my problem."
Another customer said she has been reduced to tears by the thefts.
She told the website: "I have been hit by this scam - 22,000 points were taken from my Nectar card and spent in Brixham... nowhere near where we are in Southampton.
"I broke down in tears as I was using this as my Christmas spending for my children."
This isn't the first time the Nectar team has been plagued by thefts.
Last December, the Sun also reported that customers were having hundreds of points stolen in the run up to Christmas.
At the time, Nectar suggested that shoppers may have been victims of phishing scams, or had weak passwords for their accounts that hackers could access.
The Sun has asked Nectar whether this year's thefts are related to the issues last year, but the scheme declined to comment.
It also couldn't tell us how the thieves were getting access or why so many customers are affected.
And it wasn't able to let us know how many Nectar members have been impacted by the thefts.
But a spokesperson did say: "We ask customers to report any points they believe are missing from their account so that we can investigate and refund points where the loss is genuine.
"We regularly review our security measures to ensure customers are protected and advise customers to regularly update their passwords and be mindful of increasingly sophisticated phishing attempts from fraudsters."
The Sun has contacted the Metropolitan Police for advice on how customers should deal with these thefts and what to do if your points are stolen.
We will update this story once we know more.
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