Nectar points stolen 12 January at 9:49PM in Consumer rights 8 replies 278 views

Mary_Faerie

Hi everyone. Does anyone know how Nectar points could be stolen from my account and used over 300 miles away in London? What should I do? Does it mean any of my other security is compromised? And will Nectar refund me?

Thanks.

Aylesbury_Duck

If you use the same login details or just the password for any other account (social media, email, banking, etc) then change them immediately, and add 2FA where it's offered.

Whether Nectar will refund you or not will depend on how security was breached.  If they can show that you were negligent, I doubt they'd refund the points.  If it's a problem their end, I assume they would.

Mary_Faerie

Don't think I used that password anywhere other than for Nectar and Sainsbury's. And it's relatively recent. Last couple of months maybe...

It was odd just now; I tried to change my password on Nectar but it told me my current password (required to set a new one) was wrong. I knew it was right. So I logged on to Sainsbury's which shares the password and changed it successfully there. I was using the correct password on Nectar but it wouldn't accept it for me to change the security.

It's actually frightening...

How could this have happened?

My card is linked to my ebay account and other than that I use it within my local Sainsbury's, usually via the Smart Shop handsets. No one else ever uses it, just me. I don't even scan my physical card any more but from the app on my phone.

8000 points stolen. Used at a petrol station in London. I'm 15 mins from the Scottish border!

Olinda99

if someone has your nectar card number, they can make a barcode of this number, print the barcode out and then scan the printout when using self checkout at eg Sainsburys and redeem the points to pay for their shopping or whatever.

Mary_Faerie

How on earth would anyone have my number though....? Unless they're hiding in the rafters with a telephoto lens when people are scanning their cards in Sainsbury's 🤔

It's really scary.

Thanks for your answers folks. Appreciated!

Aylesbury_Duck

Mary_Faerie said:

How on earth would anyone have my number though....? Unless they're hiding in the rafters with a telephoto lens when people are scanning their cards in Sainsbury's 🤔

It's really scary.

Thanks for your answers folks. Appreciated!

There are all sorts of ways.  Lots of people are very negligent with things like social media, where they post all sorts of photos online with lots of personal effects visible in the shot.  It's also possible you've entered your Nectar number onto another site somewhere (E.g. Expedia ask for your Nectar number) and the number's been grabbed from there.  That's why I suggested changing all your passwords, not just the Nectar one.  The breach could be on any online account or device.

TELLIT01

If you do a Google search you will find many, many reports of Nectar Points being stolen and used 100s of miles from where the card holder lives.  Nectar seem to have no interest in addressing the problem.  I have no doubt some of the claims of theft are fraudulent but it has been taken up by Watchdog, Thisismoney and Moneysavingexpert over the years, to name just 3, but nothing seems to change.

DullGreyGuy

Presumably you dont have a secondary cardholder? If you do, they werent on a trip away at the time?

Back in my days of working for a similar scheme an accountholder called alleging their points had been stolen... was able to advise that the secondary cardholder's card had been used to redeem the points at a florists a long way from their home. Turned out they weren't stolen, just her husband had used them to buy flowers for his mistress when he had told his wife he was on a business trip... or at least thats what I could make out from the screaming in the background after she failed to put the phone down properly.

Olinda99

Aylesbury_Duck said:

Mary_Faerie said:

How on earth would anyone have my number though....? Unless they're hiding in the rafters with a telephoto lens when people are scanning their cards in Sainsbury's 🤔

It's really scary.

Thanks for your answers folks. Appreciated!

There are all sorts of ways.  Lots of people are very negligent with things like social media, where they post all sorts of photos online with lots of personal effects visible in the shot.  It's also possible you've entered your Nectar number onto another site somewhere (E.g. Expedia ask for your Nectar number) and the number's been grabbed from there.  That's why I suggested changing all your passwords, not just the Nectar one.  The breach could be on any online account or device.

The OP said they had entered it onto the eBay site, for example

Also, all Nectar cards begin with 98283000. That leaves 11 digits. The last 7 digits are printed on your receipts - people throw those away. That only leaves 4 digits to 'spot with a telescope'