Nectar Card Points Stolen

[MargoTester]

I checked my Sainsburys receipt when I got home from shopping and noticed that the value was £24. I knew that I had a lot more than that saved for my Christmas shop - well over £50 I thought. I rang Nectar to find that somebody had redeemed 15000 points, value £75, in Argos South Ruislip. It actually happened when I was in hospital. They have cancelled the card and are investigating. Has anybody got any idea how this could have happened, surely you would need the card to redeem the points. Should I be worried about security?

[Jomlett]

Where was the card during your stay in hospital?

[Old_Geezer]

I've no idea but wonder if some number had been typed in erroneously ? Anyway the investigation should uncover the details. Whether you will be told is a different matter.

[MargoTester]

In my purse at home Jomlet

[Jomlett]

Did anyone have access to your purse at home during your stay in hospital, Margo?

[MargoTester]

Only my husband and son and they were with me for most of the day it was used. We live nowhere near South Ruislip.

[Jomlett]

Then lets hope as OG says, that if some number had been typed in erroneously then the investigation should uncover the details.

[MargoTester]

Thanks both for you help. I just find it a bit worrying. Apparently it will take 28 days before I get a response.

[Jomlett]

Its very popular for xmas saving, but because of the chances of fraud, when I reach enough, I always have £5 taken off my bill to stop some reptile spending it, though the chances are low in my case.

Ebay was a prime example for Nectar fraud, though both companies have improved security, or so they say.

Cloning cards can happen to anyone and no way of knowing when/how its happened.

[retrocop]

Margo
I wouldn't worry too much about breach of your financial security deliberately in this case. i.e. bank and building society.
Cut long story short. About 20 years ago we checked bank statement and Mrs retro thought I had booked us a suprise holiday as their was £700 paid out to Savernake Travel according to our statement. Certainly was a suprise to me. :-) Lloyds said it would take 28 days to investigate. When I got to work that afternoon I tracked down Savernake travel,introduced myself and asked what the debit was all about. I gave my card no to the agent. He went through his receipts and found that a respectable customer had booked the holiday for said amount and had mistakenly given the wrong number by one digit. I rang the bank straight away and said stuff your 28 day investigation .Here are the details and facts which I found in 45 mins just now. Money back into account immediateley please and I won't charge you for my time. :-). Made that last bit up. They did put the money back PDQ.
I suspect the same might have happened to your nectar card. Better check my points while I am at it. Got all the family to share Christmas dinner with us. Need extra supplies. :-)

[MargoTester]

Retro - hope you've got lots of points saved :-) . I just always assumed that you had to use the actual card to redeem the points and I know the card was here. I guess I was wrong.

[Tuvok]

This happened to us with our Tesco Clubcard - got the points back and Tesco told us they knew who had pinched them.

Never heard anything else about it.

[MargoTester]

Thanks Tuvok - they seemed fairly positive that I would get mine back. Fingers crossed, that's a lot of 'money' to lose.

[Buenchico]

Online purchases made using Nectar card points clearly don't require the physical presence of the card. (Items can be be purchased from Argos stores by going online first to use 'Click & Collect').

See here
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2946026/Nectar-boosts-loyalty-card-security-police-investigate-fraudsters-target-users-new-eBay-points-scam.html
and here
http://www.expressandstar.com/news/2014/09/02/another-victim-of-nectar-car-cloning/

[MargoTester]

Buenchico - thanks for the links, I'm obviously not the only one it had happened to. The links both say that Nectar have upgraded their security but not far enough it would seem.

[diddlydo]

Personally I would never save up that many points on my Nectar card as it's the same as carrying loads of cash if your purse/card is lost or stolen.

[marval]

I had better use my points soon then. I have just over a hundred pounds worth. I hope you get it sorted soon Margo.

[tigerbetsy]

the same thing has just happened to me - I redeemed some points in my local Sainsburys on sunday and then discovered that more points had been redeemed two hours later in another store 200 miles away. I rang Sainsburys who tell me that I have to report to Nectar. I rang Nectar who told me I must have redeemed the points in both stores as there was "no other possible explanation"! I am now in negative points by c£35. Nectar have told me that they will investigate but that it takes 28 days and I have to contact them at the end of 28 days for their response. I got the distinct impression they didn't believe me and weren't interested. I will be following up. If anyone has a UK number or address for Nectar it would be really helpful please as the Helpline no. appears to be call centre abroad who don't seem to understand I could not possibly have got from Peterborough to Newcastle in the time between the 2 transactions...

[MargoTester]

The helpline I used was 0344 811 0811 which is,I reckon, a call centre in India. 28 days is the normal time taken for their investigations it seems. Did they tell you they would cancel your card and they would send you a new one? They should have done. I don't wish to worry you but so far I have received 4 new cards all with different numbers on, and when you ring the standard of English is poor, to say the least. I always ask, politely, to speak to a supervisor and have finally found out which of the new cards to use! I am still awaiting the results of their investigation which should be in the next couple of days

[Hypognosis]

@retrocop

I hope your case is as rare as I think it should be. What are the odds of a one-digit number change NOT being tripped up by a mismatch in start/end months?
(I forget when the 3-digit extra code came in but it seems like more than ten years ago. Then again, it is bypassed for at-the-till purchases).

Nectar and other store cards clearly need an extra security feature. Given the eBay tie-in, those points are vulnerable to any internet user in the world who is capable of hacking that call centre.

Any bets on their software working off an unencrypted database?

[MargoTester]

Just to let you know I have had 15000 points put on to my new card., but I had to ring them (another 15 minute wait) when I asked why they had not e mailed me as promised I was told that there is a note on my account saying that I did not wish to receive promotional e mails!! I gave up at that point.