Tesco Clubcard fraud - online vouchers stolen

Pawan_2 · 21 December 2012 at 2:15PM

Like many people, we accumulate tesco clubcard points with our shopping, and every so often we log onto the website and exchange them for clubcard deals, or print off the the vouchers to use.

We logged on this month to find that £160 of vouchers that we were hoping to use at Christmas had been stolen (ie spent) from our clubcard account. It had been spent in two stores in London, miles away from where we live.

When we contacted Tesco, they said whoever did it would have had to hack into our online account, would need to know our email, clubcard number and password, would have then had to print the vouchers, and would then need a current valid physical clubcard to use in the store. (We still have all our clubcards, none are lost).

I wondered if anyone else had had this experience with Tesco?

We are currently trying to pursue it with them, but they are not being very helpful at the moment. We have also reported it to the police as online theft.

Maisie_Jane_2 · 24 January 2013 at 8:14PM

I have the same problem.
In December I contacted Tesco to report that I wasn't able to log on to my account. I had intended to use some online vouchers over Christmas. They were unable to fix the problem and blamed my settings on my computer. I have contacted them again today to discover that my account number has been used with someone else,s name and my vouchers have gone from my account. Their IT department are currently investigating. I am unsure how much I have lost but would guess around £200 -£300 .
Would be interested to hear how you get on.

wealdroam · 24 January 2013 at 9:47PM

Maisie_Jane wrote: »

Would be interested to hear how you get on.

Pawan did report that he/she got a refund.

See this post.

Pawan_2 · 25 January 2013 at 2:32PM

Hi Masie Jane

Your situation sounds almost the same. We initially couldn't log in, so had to get our password re-set to log on. At first, we thought perhaps we had forgotten the password - but it turned out whoever had hacked into our account had changed the password on it. Initially, Tesco implied that the fault was with us, as they said the vouchers could only be used in store with a valid clubcard, and asked if anyone had had access to our account, and asked if we had given our clubcard to anyone. (By the way, we still had the original vouchers - whoever hacked in had printed off duplicate versions of the vouchers) We were 100% sure that our clubcard had not even left the house (as we have a tesco credit card that we use, which contains a clubcard, and do our grocery shopping online) - and we still had all of our original clubcards; so we knew it couldn't have been used with our clubcard.

Our assumption was either that the need to use a clubcard was over-ridden at the till, or someone had a fake/scam clubcard. The vouchers had been used in the Tesco stores at Purley Extra store on 23/10/12 and Elmers End store on 24/10/2012. Tesco advised us to contact the police.

We did this, (through "Action Fraud") and they gave us a crime number, and took the details, but they said as it was (relatively!) such a small amount, they couldn't take any action. They did say it was possible that there was a scam going on, and that there are machines that will mock up fake cards - and so maybe this was what had happened - and that someone was mocking up lots of cards, and taking a couple of hundred pounds here and there; or that maybe the staff member had just over-riden the need to present a clubcard at the till. They also said that wherever there is a human interaction with account details, there is the possibility for fraud; so perhaps this was what had happened - as we had a relatively secure password, so were surprised it had been hacked.

The police did say they would log the details, in case others reported similar cases - and only if they had a large number of reports of a similar nature (ie more online fraud to a greater monetary value) in the same area might they investigate the fraud.

When we contacted Tesco again (with the crime number), and reported back what the police had said, they finally set us up a new account (we were worried about the security on our old account, particularly as it is linked to our tesco credit card) and then refunded our vouchers.

Hope that helps!

Maisie_Jane_2 · 25 January 2013 at 8:45PM

Hi Thanks for this reply.

I will certainly bare all this in mind when I next talk to Tesco .

They must be aware of some sort of scam going on with the on line vouchers if they have had other similar cases.

I am not happy that it wasn't, discovered when I first reported it in early December. It would have been a lot easier to sort out then.

Anyway, it,s good to know you got a refund. Will let you know how I get on.

lyou · 3 February 2013 at 6:48PM

Hello,
I am completely new to this forum and came across it while trying to find similar experience to ours on the net, and glad I did. I also struggled to get into my Tesco clubcard account before Christmas and ended up having to create a new one (re-register) in Januuary. I then realised that the vouchers accumulated over a nearly 2 years period had all been used (worth over £150). I immediately phoned their customer services to be told that on their end I had been using my clubcard and my vouchers in 2 different shops in London, where I never go as I live up north. Although I tried to convince them that I did not, explaining that 1/ I am in possession of all my original vouchers, 2/ I never ever redeem them at tesco's as they could easily check in their system (customer for so many years I always have always saved them to get the Tussaud annual pass and nothing else), and 3/ their system shows that I have used my card in my usual local shop on those same days when I would have spent my vouchers in London (??), still all I was told is to go to the police so they would investigate. Well I did and was received by a courteous and helpful PC who had a quick look at my vouchers and the print outs from my tesco account. He immediately understood what I meant and agreed with me that it is up to Tesco's to deal with it as their system has clearly been hacked into. On the other hand he had not heard of any similar story and I am pleased to have found this forum and realise that I am not on my own. I am going to ring Tesco's again and speak to someone hopefully brighter and more helpful who will be able to help me.

chrsfrm · 5 February 2013 at 8:05PM

Hi, looks like I have been hacked too, losing £97 in vouchers. Rang Tesco, they are investigating (or so they say). They will not say much, for data protection reasons but confirm they were spent online. Not by me!! I still cannot see how the thieves get away with this, online. They would need my password (now changed) and use Delivery to shop I guess to avoid the address mis-match should they get it delivered. Usually this is easier to scam if done in store adding cash as required to voucher values. Anyone know how they get away with it? Thanks.

DCFC79 · 5 February 2013 at 8:33PM

Well do any of you have anti virus on your PC ?

Is it up to date ?

Are your passwords easy to guess ?

chrsfrm · 5 February 2013 at 10:02PM

Hi DFC

That's a Y,Y,N.
Wish it was that simple.

terra_ferma · 6 February 2013 at 11:36AM

The vast majority of individual account 'hacking' happens via phishing, from what I read. And the victims don't even realise they have just given their account details to scammers.

Did you get any emails from tesco that asked you to log in into your account?
The emails can be quite clever, well written and giving you a good excuse to log in. #
I'm not familiar with tesco's emails, but with banks you can tell it's a fake email because they don't give your name, only dear account holder etc.
When you click on the link it will look like a genuine tesco website (can't say what happens one you enter your log in details, as I've never actually done that).

cwylee · 7 February 2013 at 1:25PM

So glad to have googled and find this thread. Today i went to log in to my account as i know i have some vouchers that expire the end of this month and to find that nearly £250 worth of vouchers had gone. They been spent on the 23/01/13 and one is still processing from the 25/01/13. I was straight on the phone to tesco's but they couldn't tell me anything like where or what it been spent on. The man on the phone only advised me to send an email for them to investigate.

As with the previous posters above i still have the original vouchers at home, but i haven't had any trouble with my account ie been locked out etc... do you think i need to advise the police about it? Also do you think emailing them is the best way to go about it? Surely they should have a department to phone them directly?

Tesco Clubcard fraud - online vouchers stolen

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