Christmas is an expensive time of year and many shoppers rely on their loyalty card savings. 

However, Morrisons shoppers were confused and disgruntled to find the points they were saving up had vanished. 

Many accused the supermarket of intentionally wiping the cards to increase their profit margins over the festive period. 

 According to Mirror Online , Morrisons said there has been a surge in loyalty card related fraud in the last few months; fraudsters are targeting people's accounts and taking their accumulated loyalty points.

In fact, an investigation by This Is Money found the points had been spent in other parts of the country, suggesting that they had indeed been hacked.

Morrisons More cards have been targetted by fraudsters

People have taken to Twitter to vent their frustrations.

One said: "Points being used in other parts of the country and there is nothing you can do? They are your customers. Where's the loyalty!?"

Another said: "Happened to me, everyone should boycott."

A disgruntled Twitter user said: "When are @Morrisons going to investigate all these points going missing? Clearly the more card accounts aren't very secure are they?"

Customers have been told to ring the number on the back of their More loyalty cards but some customers say they're not getting the level of the support they need.

Jim Ainsworth told This is Money that he tried to redeem 5000 points but was told by staff that he didn't have the appropriate number of points.

Jim said:"I have called the number myself twice and also got a lady at the store to do it twice.

"Each time, we got through to someone who takes the card details and then says: 'I have reloaded your points, so next time you shop, when you hand over your card you should get your voucher'."

Despite this promise, the points weren't initially reloaded by staff.

He added: "'I actually fell for this three times, and spent about £30, when I should have been boycotting the place."

After persistence, Jim got his points back but many other shoppers haven't been as fortunate.

A spokesperson for Morrisons said: "Online hackers target people who use the same username and password across multiple sites.

"We regularly remind our customers about the importance of using a unique password.

Sainsbury's has also reported problems with Nectar cards

"We take online security very seriously and our customer data has not been breached."

Morrisons isn't the only supermarket to find themselves in hot water, as Sainsbury's have also had some security issues with their Nectar card.

Some people report they had their cards blocked with no prior warning.

One 47-year-old customer said they had their card cancelled after saving for months to buy gifts for a charity raffle.

She was told that Nectar had a fraud scare and blocked many cards as a precaution.

What are supermarkets doing to combat the issue?

Sainsbury's is launching a new Nectar card scheme, allowing customers to collect and gain rewards digitally.

Morrisons are still allowing customers to pick up loyalty point in their stores. Customers can earn 5 loyalty points for every £1 they spend.