Metro | Two customers were stolen their points M

Faithful client of Metro, Natalie Gauthier spends ten hours each week for two years compiling the products allowing to obtain M points, from the company’s loyalty program. She then publishes this list on a Facebook page. In July, it was the surprise: he was stolen from him twice almost $ 500 in points. How to guard against the fraud of points cards?

“On July 3, I received three emails a few minutes apart [de Metro] Who said: “You have reduced your bill”, in three different businesses, says Natalie Gauthier, who nevertheless kept her physical point card at home. In all, the expenses made totaled $ 312. »»

Worried, she changes her password and cancels her card to ensure that her account is not emptied a second time. Surprise, she notes that a second phone number was added to her account, without “no opinion from Metro, no security alert”.

She began to monitor her account “several times a day” and noted each time another person connected to his account. It happened several times during this nine -day period.

Despite the precautions of Natalie Gauthier, on July 12, rebelote: this time, his points card was used to buy $ 159 in goods in a Super C.

The law and business administration graduate, however, ensures that it is a “maniac”.

Natalie Gauthier does not sign online petition either and ensures that her two email addresses are not linked to each other so that she can recover her account with one if the other is hacked.

It pleads for greater attention paid to security on the part of Metro, as with PC Optimum where “a suspicious connection attempt triggers an immediate verification”.

Metro defends himself

At Metro, we argue that this is an isolated case. “This is not a security issue of our systems and data protection is a priority for us,” writes its mail communications department.

The Quebec grocer recommends that his members “to use a robust and unique password, and to modify it regularly to ensure the safety of their information and keep it out of fraudsters”.

Metro, however, refuses to disclose the total amount of money lost each year by users of its loyalty program due to fraud, the amount reimbursed, or the number of reimbursement requests that the company has received.

The press was able to confirm another case of hacked account. A member of Gatineau lost almost $ 200 points in May. She had to threaten her story to recover her points after several weeks of unsuccessful approaches.

Metro is not the only company affected by fraud. In 2018, Loblaw customers denounced repeated flights, Radio-Canada reported. A simple research on Reddit makes it possible to see that members of the Canadian Tire triangle program, PC Optimum Loblaw and Scene+ have also undergone points loss in recent years.

A shared responsibility

For Marie-Ève Leclerc, the Milesopedia web content director, a Montreal media specializing in credits and awards, the responsibility for security is shared between consumers and businesses.

These can indeed set up a two factors verification when the time comes to pay with the accumulated points, complicating the life of possible fraudsters.

Consumers can install a VPN on their phone, or install a password manager to ensure that you have different passwords for each of their accounts, for loyalty programs, but also passwords of social networks or their bank accounts.

Marie-Ève Leclerc also recommends spending the points as they are accumulated, and not only to limit the damage in the event of fraud.

“We must not let it hang out like money in a check account, because the points end up losing value over time,” she explains, in particular because of inflation. This is without counting that “the programs evolve over time. [Les entreprises] end up modifying the points of exchange of points ”.

Dynamic pricing, which varies the value of the points according to the days, increases, as a rule, the price of goods purchased. It is notably applied in the hotel and air sectors.