Receiving Unrequested OTP's from Sainsbury Supermarket

[HashtagShitShop]

I'm wondering if anyone is or has been in the same situation and has received these messages in the same way from Sainsburys or any other company and if they have any answers as for what it is or if I can report it to any organisation that might be able to pull them up on it or download an app or something that will stop them cos I'm really fed up of it!

At four times a day, for 3 weeks, every single day, I've been receiving an OTP (One Time Passcode) text message from Sainsbury's. This is approx the 5th time this has happened to me since about 2021. These are roughly at 2.45am, 8.45am, 2.50pm and 11.45pm. It goes on for a period of time whilst I report it and it's 'looked into' and then stops until the next time it starts up again. This time is the longest that it's been going for - before it was about 8-10 days in the past. You cannot reply to the number or send 'STOP' etc to it because it says 'replying is not supported by this sender'.

It's is not scam, phishing or someone pretending to be Sainsburys - Sainsburys have acknowledged the messages are genuinley being sent from themselves each time. The problem is that they cannot be blocked. Infact my phone has 'blocked' them but because there is no standard number(ie - 07777777blahblah - in fact there's no number at all, they just come through as 'Sainsburys' - they still come through.

This means that they sound through the Do Not Disturb setting on my phone that activates at night. There's no way of attaching a silent ringtone to it because there's no number at all so it cannot be 'saved' to the phone book and assigned a silent tone. The only way to avoid being woken by the messages arrival is to turn my phone off or put it on silent. I cannot do this because I'm a carer and need to be accessible during the night incase of emergencies or if I'm needed by the person I care for (or my grandparents care home) so I'm being woken by these almost every night and have been since the 9th September this time.

I keep asking Sainsburys every time it happens every few months what it is that causes it so that I can report it with a 'this is happening again, please deactivate blah blah blah to stop it' and get it to stop quicker the next time it happens but they ignore my messages and do not reply after it has been stopped.

This time however they've been saying 'it's because someone else has your number on their account'. They've also told me that they're 'removed my number from my account' which 'should stop it' (which doesn't make any sense if they're saying it s because someone else has it on their account! I've pointed this out and they side stepped it and ignored it.) Also the sheer fact that they come at 4 times a day at roughly the same time each day (including the middle of the night) makes that seem unlikely to me too as surely noone is setting alarms to request OTP's four times a day for weeks on end at the same time each day and magically being aware that I've reported it in the past and stop doing it for a few months before starting again?

The latest is that they've asked me to wait 72 hours after they have 'removed my number from my account' before getting in touch again. The last time this happened approx 4/5 months ago the agent said then that they'd removed the number from my account so I didn't hold my breath. This was up yesterday and... yes it's still happening.

If I'm honest the customer service team have been a bit snotty about it this time and keep insisting that it's someone with my number on their account but GDPR means they can't remove it from the other persons account.

My next and seemingly only remaining step is to contact the CEO if it doesn't stop by the end of business Monday. (I replied a few hours ago that it's still continuing). I'm so tired after 3 weeks of broken sleep. I'm either anticipating being woken by it so not resting properly or the adrenaline kicks in at the phone ringing in the middle of the night even now that makes me think it's an emergency so I often can't just fall straight back asleep.

It appears the only way to stop it completely is to change my number but as mentioned I'm a carer (we don't have a landline) and my number is the main number for both myself and the person I care for and all assorted care related products so I'm loathe to do that so welcome any other ideas. Thank you!

This isn't the case, my phone is never ever out my possession, I am a 24/7 live in carer for a family member and where I am it is. There's literally nothing else suss or problematic happening it's just the sainsburys mess.

Thank you but unfortunately there's only the do not disturb settings that can do that on my phone and it still manages to break through that.

Apparently it's because there isn't a number assigned to it so it can't be refused according to my network. Even they are at a loss to explain how it keeps coming through to my phone in the first place given that I've blocked the 'sender' (as you can see in my screenshot at the bottom and top.)

Feels so maddening when big companies behave this way. So frustrating they haven’t helped you yet, I hope this thread pops up tomorrow on Sainsbury’s radar and they proactively deal with it – please do let us know what happens 🤞

On my phone (iPhone), if you swipe left on the message, you will see the bell icon; press that and it mutes the texts when they come through ☺️

This is really shit for you. Try messaging consumer champions at the Guardian who may be interested in picking up the case for you

We welcome letters but cannot answer individually. Email us at [email protected] or write to Consumer Champions, Money, the Guardian, 90 York Way, London N1 9GU. Please include a daytime phone number. Submission and publication of all letters is subject to our terms and conditions

@HashtagShitShop have you tried this?:

1. I logged into Sainsbury's.
2. I got a OTP
3. Click on 3 dots
4. Click 'Details'
5. Click 'Block and report Spam'

A couple of ideas:

On my phone I can turn off text notifications. So calls will still get through but I can stop getting notifications every time I get a text.

Alternatively I can set my do not disturb to only allow calls and messages from people in my contacts. Everything else is muted. Do the people who need to contact you call from a number you have or is it a bit more random what number they're using?

I had something similar with Scottish power. I was not a customer but someone had incorrectly given them my number. It went on for months. In the end I highlighted it was a gdpr issue and they eventually got it revolved but it was blooming stressful at 35 weeks pregnant

Bring a claim for an injunction so they never message you again and compensation for harassment as this is a course of conduct causing you alarm and distress. I promise you once they receive the claim form they will then take it extremely seriously and ensure the messages stop!
sometimes litigation is the only language they understand

I had an issue with sainsburys that was completely unrelated to this one, but id had several calls with the help desk and a Twitter DM chat and got nowhere. I contacted the Simon Roberts email above and it got sorted within 20 minutes.

I do think GDPR is your best route to go. They are using your personal data inappropriately and not in accordance with privacy notices. I had this years ago (before DPA 2018) where some organisation had recorded my mobile number against another data entry. It took effort for the organization to deal with the issue. Back then they were not cooperative.

Thank you all!

Unfortunately @lougle I don't have the options to report spam, only to block (that doesn't block them, it's weird! Even my network can't explain how they're getting through other than its because they have no nunber so nothing can be 'blocked'. It was all they could come up with. We'e you suffering the same issue? I note a lot of otps there.

@Iamanicelady thanks but I'm android not apple.

@Titective I shall add them to the people to email tomorrow, fabulous thank you!

@Reallybadidea thank you but weirdly like they can get round the blocking on the messaging app, they can also get round the do not disturb. Even my network doesn't know 100 percent why the messages aren't blocked even though I've blocked them! I will check the notifications only silence thank you. The relative I live with can often just shout for me or sometimes come wake me if they need me but sometimes it's not possible so they ring from their mobile which is a stable number as is the care home. The issue is hospitals and doctors etc with private numbers.

Im sorry that happened to you @Oopsupsideyourheadache especially at a time of such stress. Glad you got it sorted! I hate that it takes so much to get something that should be so simple sorted!

@Delphigirl thar sounds like it could be an expensive route to set up!

@Hobbes8 thsts encouraging to hear that it can get sorted that quickly. Hopefully this is similar. I'd just relaxed to try get some sleep.... Only for one to arrive 2 minutes ago.

@socialdilemmawhattodo thank you for the heads up. I'm sorry that happened to you. Unfortunately sainsburys customer service are very similar. They're adamant that they've sorted it by "removing the nunber from my account" which they'd said they'd done before and that didn't help it and if it is on someone else's account as they've claimed it doesn't explain the volume of otps at the same time each day (surely it'd be a huge volume at once and then stop when they didn't come through and we're investigated? And then not happen again and again months later?). They are very much not interested in helping, I assume because it's not an easy fix. They're not even trying this time. There's one staff member who replies really quite coldly in particular.

It's also interesting to note that I have others I've blocked like Yours Clothing and Temu who I don't get notified about having messages from, they just arrive and go into the blocked part of messages and I know nothing about it until I open that section of the app to occasionally delete them.

Then there's Sainsburys in that same blocked bit of the app with '' blocked' appearing in the thread showing that I've blocked then ... But I get notified of their messages each time ? So so weird!

Are you using Android?

You could try specifically blocking push notifications from the Sainsbury's site:

Allow or block notifications from a specific site
On your Android device, open Chrome Chrome.
Go to the site from which you want to change notifications.
To the left of the address bar, tap Lock Lock and then Permissions.
If a menu opens: Select the setting that you want to change.
If no menu opens: Permissions are in their original settings.

They're text messages not coming from the sainsburys site.

I'm in the process of contacting the ceo et al, and just had a reply on twitter from sainsburys. Essentially 'sorry but we won't stop them." (hopefully screenshot has attached) and they're sticking to the story of someone having it on their account which I don't believe.

They may be correct that these messages are coming from another account using your mobile number. Are you absolutely certain that there is nobody in your life who could be using this as a way to harass you?

It is not a breach of GDPR on their part - you are not asking for Sainsbury to provide you with another customer's details. That agent has misunderstood. But you could contact the Data Protection team at Sainsbury

https://privacy-hub.sainsburys.co.uk/your-rights

You could perhaps try a subject access route asking explicitly and narrowly for all instances where Sainsbury are processing (being storing, processing, using, sharing etc) your mobile number. The company should review the SAR for other individuals' details - so you might see your number being used against a redacted name. Which could tell you your number is stored more than once on their systems?

But the quantity and frequency of the OTP's possibly suggests a more systemic failure. So perhaps the IT dept need to check settings. But get the Data Protection team to escalate.

Absolutely noone. I'm a 24/7 carer, my social circle is mostly online, and my small family are not techy enough to even think of doing it never mind carrying it out other than 1 or 2 that genuinely wouldn't do it. The biggest "beef" in my life is with a useless doctor who keeps trying to stop medication being on repeats even though hospital consultants are getting v peed off with him for doing so as I have to keep getting in touch to correct this.

Thank you very much I will include this in my ceo email and make a seperate request too.

I wonder whether you could have a case for complaining to the information commissioner's office? www.ofcom.org.uk/phones-telecoms-and-internet/advice-for-consumers/problems/tackling-nuisance-calls-and-messages/spam-texts

Thank you! :) Email sent to CEO complete with screenshots and report made to the Information Comissioner.

I've also received a message on Twitter telling me that it will be fed back to the team internally but it cannot be stopped and that they apologise but can do nothing further to stop it (this was whilst I was still composing my email) and it was followed up by then asking me for feedback on the level of support I have received and asked if it had solved my problem. It'd be laughable if it wasn't so bloody stupid!

Hope you get it sorted. Someone used my email address for their Vietnamese bank account so I get an email every time they make a transaction. I contacted the bank and they too said they can't do anything about it, the owner has to change the email address on their account, so it all just gets sent to my spam now. Nowhere near as annoying as your situation but just to say I understand how crackers it is these huge businesses can be so tech useless!

This sounds infuriating. I hope you get it sorted

Thank you 🙂

Had a response from Sainsburys exec office. They've apparently notified the relevant teams within sainsburys to try locate the account or the error that is causing the problems.

Apparently this can take up to 10 days to be done so if they continue all this time it'll be 5 weeks of harassment and disturbed sleep 🤦🏻‍♀️ fingers crossed it doesn't take that long to actually sort!

That sounds like a much better response from Sainsbury.