Sainsbury’s bosses said there are a ‘range of measures to help safeguard customers’
Sainsbury’s has launched a significant update which will affect the 18 million shoppers who are signed up to its Nectar loyalty programme. The supermarket giant has introduced a vital new security feature, which will protect those using the scheme from point theft.
The UK’s second-largest supermarket has upgraded its loyalty card app with a ‘spend lock’ option, which allows customers to freeze their Nectar points until they’re ready to redeem them. Nectar lets customers earn one point for every £1 spent both in-store and online at Sainsbury’s.
With this latest update, shoppers can continue to accumulate points as they shop but will need to manually unlock their points before they can use them for discounts or other offers. Although unlocking points should be an immediate process, Sainsbury’s has cautioned that it could take slightly longer during peak shopping hours or in busy locations.
This new feature follows a concerning increase in Nectar point fraud, after an investigation by This is Money revealed that criminals had stolen more than 12 million Nectar points, equating to nearly £63,000 in total.
Reports suggest that fraudsters had been using social media platforms to sell thousands of Nectar account details, with many customers unaware their points had been used until it was too late. One victim recounted how their 10,000-point balance, worth £50, was spent just days before Christmas on an expensive bottle of Remy Cognac, even though they had planned to use it for the festive season. The points had been used in a store hundreds of miles from their home.
Another woman discovered that her points had been spent in various locations, with hundreds of miles separating the transactions. Jake Moore, a global cybersecurity advisor at ESET, described the changes as a good first step but likened it to “effectively like putting a plaster over a huge wound”.
He further stated: “Nectar cards are financially connected cards and should therefore come with the corresponding security and protection as debit and credit cards. It’s crucial to maintain strong, unique passwords and monitor your account regularly for any suspicious activity. It is advisable to monitor your account activity frequently to detect and report any unauthorised actions promptly.”
A Nectar spokesperson confirmed the new feature, stating: “We’ve recently introduced a new spend lock feature to add an extra layer of security to our customer accounts, allowing customers to lock their points until they’re ready to spend them. Security is our highest priority, and we have a range of measures to help safeguard our customers’ points.”
The security feature was first introduced in February, but not all customers may see it immediately, as it’s being rolled out gradually. Sainsbury’s isn’t the only supermarket to face loyalty card fraud.
In 2020, Tesco had to block 620,000 Clubcard accounts after scammers targeted its points system. The retail giant issued new cards to affected customers and asked them to reset their passwords. Tesco has reassured its customers that any points stolen will be returned. Iceland shoppers have also fallen prey to card fraud, with several Bonus Card users finding their balances depleted just before Christmas.
The Iceland Bonus Card rewards customers with £1 for every £20 spent and encourages shoppers to load cash onto their accounts. A spokesperson from Iceland clarified that some customers’ login details were stolen due to security breaches on other websites. However, the supermarket emphasised that no data was lost from their own systems and advised customers to use strong, unique passwords for each website.