Stolen points - solution?

On January 28, my ulta rewards points were stolen from me by an individual shopping in a store nearby my home. Like many of you, I hoard my points until I’ve accumulated enough and wait to use them during the holidays or when there’s coupons. I know many people have had this issue happen to them where their accounts were hacked and people in other states were redeeming their points, but mine happened near my home. I’m not sure who the person is, but not many people have my phone number other than very close relatives and one acquaintance I no longer speak to. I immediately contacted Ulta’s customer service and the store that this happened at and they opened an investigation and a full audit of my account and today, I finally was reimbursed my points that were stolen. When I called the store and informed them of what happened, they checked the cameras and the behavior of this person was shady. They walked in and used my number to make a purchase and left the store for a few minutes and came back and went on a shopping spree and redeemed all my points during their second transaction. I’ve had the same information with Ulta for over 10 years and I’ve never had this happen to me. Like anyone else I was so upset because we all worry about this happening because of the lack of security we have with our rewards.

I’m making this post today because I feel that this is a common issue that many of us go through and I think it’s time we all start speaking up and demanding for Ulta to input a PIN code to redeem points during online and in-store check out because clearly checking identification isn’t enough. Many retailers such as Meijers and Walgreens require a PIN number in order to use rewards. Ulta has one of the most generous reward systems in America and yet any person can walk into a store and redeem your points as long as they have your phone number. I know Ulta’s policy is to check an ID before redeeming points but I just feel like that isn’t enough. If enough of us speak up, they may add a pin to protect our rewards that we spent our hard earned money earning.

:(