From a few pounds and pence to £900 – the amount of money people have lost to loyalty scheme fraud has been eye-watering. And when we asked for your experiences, the response was quite staggering.
The issue was first flagged up at the beginning of last year when customers claimed they’d fallen victim to online fraudsters who had hacked into their Clubcard accounts and taken hundreds of pounds worth of vouchers. Tesco believes fraudsters steal people’s online IDs and passwords through phishing emails and use them on the Clubcard website on the offchance their victims use the same password for that site.
Tesco called in the police to investigate, which it is continuing to do, but there still seems to be an issue.
Fraudsters cash in at the checkouts
Less than two weeks ago on Convo, Sue said:
‘We too have had over £900 stolen/missing, which Tesco say have been used! This has been going on for over 2 years and they still say we have spent them, which we most definitely have not, as we have been saving up for a big family holiday.’
The fraudulent activity appears to have caught most customers by surprise. Annette said:
‘I had no idea that this was happening. Just by chance I went onto my account and I have discovered that my points have been used at Lea Valley and Tottenham stores in London. I live in Lancashire and have only been to London once in my life and that was about 5 years ago. There is nothing on the website to warn that this has been happening. It amounts to over £50 worth of points that I was saving up for Christmas. My husband and I are retired and in poor health and this has come as a real shock to me.’
Change your account password
Samantha Warren was equally shocked when she discovered her account had been hacked in November. She said:
‘Whoever did it got the benefit of £57.50 worth of my vouchers. I’ve changed my password now as I was not even aware that this was a problem.’
If you believe you have been affected you should tell Tesco and contact Action Fraud. It’s also worth changing the password to your account.
While some people have managed to get their rewards back, many have reported it can take a long time. Cheeze439 said:
‘Finally, my promised £110 giftcard arrived…As a goodwill gesture they have upped the card to £150 which is nice of them. Only took approx 100 days and 8 promises to reach a resolution, but stick to your guns everyone and don’t let them put the blame your way…’
Are other loyalty schemes being targeted?
While the focus up to now has been on Tesco Clubcard, we’re keen to find out if other loyalty schemes have been affected – whether that’s your Nectar Card of Boots Advantage card. You might want to check any other loyalty card accounts and balances as a precautionary measure.
If you’ve lost out on any loyalty scheme in the past or been affected by such fraud, please tell us about it. How much did you lose and were you able to get your points/vouchers back? We’re still keen to find out how many people are affected by this and whether it’s a more widespread issue.
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