Nectar will allow customers to lock spending on their account after This Is Money revealed customers concerns that they were being defrauded of millions of points.
At the start of February, Nectar introduced a ‘Spend Lock’ which will freeze accounts until the customer has decided to spend their reward points, we can reveal.
It comes just weeks after This Is Money reported 12.5 million Nectar points worth nearly £63,000 had been stolen from readers in the past year.
When fraudsters accessed accounts, there was little that could be done because customers were only alerted after their points had been spent.
In a number of cases, readers who had collected their points over the course of 2024 had their accounts drained just days before Christmas meaning they could not use their points for their festive shop.
Now, Nectar will allow customers to lock their accounts until they are ready to spend their points.
Nectar says customers can still collect Nectar points and get special discounts and offers while the account is locked, but customers will need to unlock the account – which should be instant – before their shop in order to spend points.
Only primary users of the account will be able to lock and unlock spending, while additional collectors will only be able to collect points.
Business customers will not be able to lock their account online and will have to call the Nectar helpline.
The introduction of a safety feature is a welcome development after This Is Money revealed significant issues with Nectar’s security.
We found that criminals were using social media and secret channels to sell up to 1,000 Nectar accounts at any given time.
Some security experts say it is relatively easy for criminals to gain access to account numbers using a numbers-based algorithm.
Readers were also reporting points had been spent miles away from their home and there was no cap on points spent in one day. One reader said that they had lost over 400,000 Nectar points in one day without realising.
Nectar’s new feature should allow customers to be able to start saving their points again, without fear of them being stolen by fraudsters.
Jake Moore, global cybersecurity advisor at ESET said that while a good first step, the spend lock ‘is effectively like putting a plaster over a huge wound’.
‘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.
‘However, to truly take advantage of the Nectar points system, it is still best to spend any points as you go rather than accumulating them to be used in one go.’
A Nectar spokesman said: ‘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 which help to safeguard our customers’ points.’
Have you used Nectar’s Spend Lock? Get in touch editor@thisismoney.co.uk
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