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Lloyds Avios Rewards credit card customers have reported a spate of fraudulent activity and cardholders are being urged to check their statements in case they too have fallen victim.
The Lloyds cards, which give users Avios points when they sign up and in relation to their spending, appear to have been used in a number of fraudulent payments – most of which are occurring in America.
Head for Points, the UK’s biggest frequent flyer website, raised the alarm after a number of credit card holders reported problems.
Some victims claim never to have used the card, saying they took it out purely for the points earned when signing up.
Rob Burgess, founder of Head for Points, said this scenario was not uncommon.
"Earlier in the year Lloyds offered 4,500 Avios points just for signing up. Many people got the card but never actually used it.
"That suggests this is not a card cloning issue, it is either a leak of card information by Lloyds or Amex, or someone has found a way of generating the credit card numbers with enough security to process transactions."
Customers who open the credit card are sent two cards, an American Express and a Mastercard version. They earn 1.25 Avios for every £1 spent.
Niall Sheridan was one victim, saying he only discovered the fraud when the American Express version of his card was declined last week.
On calling Lloyds they told him a number of "tester" transactions for £1 had been attempted in America, and his card had been cancelled. He said the Mastercard version of his card was unaffected.
Another customer, Daniella Mcgrory, said someone attempted a transaction at American department store JC Penney that alerted her to the fraud. She then discovered a number of other attempted transactions. She also said her Mastercard version of the card was not affected.
In both cases Lloyds refunded the money, cancelled the cards and said it would send replacements.
"If you have the Lloyds Avios credit cards, I strongly suggest you check your online statement immediately for potential fraudulent transactions," said Mr Burgess.
A spokesman from Lloyds said: “A very small number of Lloyds Bank Avios Rewards American Express credit card customers have been affected by recent fraudulent activity. This has affected less than one percent of customers who hold these cards and we have introduced additional controls to provide further protection.
"These controls have been successful in ensuring that fraudulent transactions are identified and declined. We apologise to customers for any inconvenience caused. Impacted customers will receive a full refund of monies that have been taken fraudulently.”
Lloyds would not say how the fraud occurred.
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