Warwickshire man warns of Nectar points theft as card targeted before Christmas

A FAMILY’S Christmas was almost ruined before it had started after the Nectar points they had saved to buy their festive food were stolen.

Alan and Jane Grantham, from Wellesbourne, were shocked when they tried to use some of their points in Sainsbury’s – they had about 16,700 points worth £85 – and discovered most of them had gone.

The account had been left with just about enough to cover a dozen mince pies – £4.44,

Alan, who is on Universal Credit, told the Herald that when he raised the problem with a staff member at the check-out at Wellesbourne Sainsbury’s, he found he was not alone.

“There were three or four people in the queue behind me and in the queue at the next till who had had their Nectar points stolen,” he said. “This must be happening thousands of times with lots of people getting their points stolen.”

Alan contacted Nectar and after a few conversations was told he would get the points back, but that it could take up to 28 days – not helpful with Christmas fast approaching.

While family members would step in to help buy the Christmas treats, Alan wanted to raise the issue about the theft of Nectar points, urge Sainsbury’s customers to check their accounts and ask the supermarket to do more to prevent the fraud in the first place.

It is believed the card had been hacked online. It’s not an isolated incident for the loyalty scheme which has 23 million members.

In October, online finance website This Is Money reported that hundreds of its readers had had points worth thousands of pounds stolen. It said criminal gangs were behind the thefts and added: “Since we wrote an article 10 days ago about another Nectar theft, 72 more readers have contacted us to say they’ve had points worth just over £7,800 nicked.

“A common theme has cropped up in all the cases – victims have no idea how the points were nabbed, while our attempts to get an answer from Sainsbury's meet a constant brick wall. Now, we can reveal that criminals are using social media and secure messaging channels to sell data attached to up to 1,000 Nectar accounts at any given time.

“We found evidence of criminals selling codes linked to Nectar accounts through a secret channel on a popular secure messaging service.”

Sainsbury’s has said it is working closely with the police on the issue and “have a range of measures in place to help us detect and in many cases prevent fraud.”

The Herald contacted Sainsbury’s about Mr Grantham’s case and they embraced the Christmas spirit and sent him e-vouchers to cover the lost Nectar points, allowing him and his wife to get the food items they had saved for.

A Nectar spokesperson said: “We have contacted Mr and Mrs Grantham to apologise for their experience and have arranged for them to receive a Sainsbury’s e-voucher to the value of their Nectar points.

“As they are not digital Nectar customers, this will ensure they’re able to put this towards any Christmas shopping with us while we arrange their replacement card.”

As for the theft of Nectar points, the spokesperson said: “We’re constantly improving our systems and processes to help safeguard our customers’ points. Over the past few years we’ve introduced a number of new security measures, including:

Pre-emptively blocking re-demptions when we detect a fraudulent transaction.

Allowing customers to pause any points spending on their account by getting in touch with us.

Requiring photo ID for all Nectar redemptions over £50 in Argos.

“If a customer suspects they’ve been a victim of fraud we recommend they contact the Nectar helpline team, who will thoroughly investigate. In the first instance we review the account to identify any unusual activity and if we find this we would refund the points, such as in Mr and Mrs Grantham’s case.”

The helpline number is 0344 811 0811.