My Nectar points were stolen at a petrol station

A Nectar customer who had thousands of points stolen was directed to visit the petrol station where the fraudsters had used her card before she could be refunded.

Last month, Caroline Enderby discovered 14,000 Nectar points had been used at a Sainsbury's petrol station in July without her knowledge.

As she records all of her fuel purchases, she was able to confirm to Nectar that she was not at the location at the time.

When she contacated Nectar to alert them to the fraud, she was advised that the points would be refunded, which provided some relief.

This has often been the case for Nectar customers who have had their points stolen, as This is Money has written in the past.

This time, though, Caroline was told the points would only be refunded once she visited the fuel station, because it is one that she occasionally uses.

'This I did, although the store manager was bemused as to why I'd been been asked to do this as he cannot instigate a return of that number of points.

'On reporting back to Nectar, I was informed that my points would be refunded and a new card issued.'

However, when Caroline's new card arrived, she discovered she had not been refunded and she was told that as she occasionally used the fuel station, she would not get her points back.

Instead, she was advised to notify the police of the theft.

This is Money took Caroline's case to Sainsbury's, who own Nectar, to ask why she had been directed to the fuel station only for her points to not be refunded.

We also asked Nectar whether it was now policy to not refund points at locations a customer has occasionally used.

Given how widespread this scam appears to now be - This is Money has alerted readers to it for over a decade - it is also worrying that there seem to have been changes to their refund policy.

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Our readers have had more than a MILLION Nectar reward points worth £7,500 nicked so far this year...

However, Sainsbury's did not respond to our questions. 

Instead, a spokesman said: 'We have contacted Ms Enderby to apologise for her experience and arranged for her Nectar points to be refunded to her new account. 

'We have also added 2,000 extra points to her account for the inconvenience.'

Some clarity came when a Nectar representative contacted Caroline directly and said: 'I have reviewed your contacts and can see you that you were advised to visit the petrol station your points were redeemed at. 

'I'm sorry to hear that this has happened and can assure you this is not the correct process.

'This has now been fed back to the colleague you received this advice from to ensure this does not happen in future.'

This is Money has highlighted a flaw in Nectar's systsem that means criminals seemingly can use customer's points without having the physical card.

More than a million reward points have been stolen from our readers so far this year, and since we highlighted that to Nectar in August, more than 50 readers have been in touch with similar issues.

Indeed, since Friday, four more stolen Nectar points cases have been sent to This is Money, totalling more than 100,000 of points nabbed. 

Sainsbury's, which owns Nectar, says that while it will refund points in the event of fraud - and it has done for most of our readers - it affects just a small proportion of its 18million members.

However, the deluge of readers have been in touch suggest that the issue is lucrative for fraudsters.

Have you had your Nectar points nabbed? Get in touch: editor@thisismoney.co.uk 

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