M&S has sent gift vouchers to shoppers over disruption from its cyberattack – only to have to reassure some that the email was not a scam.
The retailer sent the e-gift cards last week to customers who had an online order cancelled or delayed after the cyberattack in April.
However, some shoppers took to online forums to ask whether the email was genuine or a scam.
“I’ve had a mail saying M&S will be sending an e-card to apologise for the problems with orders after their cyber hack incident,” one wrote on Mumsnet.
“Has anyone else received this? I can see why they might be trying to entice shoppers back and restore some goodwill, but I can equally see how it could be a scam.”
Another said: “I haven’t opened mine in case it’s a scam. You’d think they’d put out a press announcement or something.”
Another chipped in to say they had messaged M&S on Facebook to check, and been told: “Rest assured this is a genuine email. It’s a thank you from us for your continued support during the cyber incident as your order was cancelled. The emails will be sent from email@service.marksandspencer.com.”
M&S said the vouchers were a ”gesture of goodwill”.
The retailer admitted in May that hackers had accessed customer data including contact details, date of birth and online order history, but not usable payment or card details. M&S warned customers they “might receive emails, calls or texts claiming to be from M&S when they are not, so do be cautious”.
Lawyers have been attempting to build a class action lawsuit against M&S over the breach, including via adds on social media asking its online customers to join.
M&S said in its results in May that it expected to take a £300m hit to annual profit as a result of online clothing & home orders being disrupted until July.
It began resuming online orders of selected clothing ranges earlier this month, with GlobalData estimating it could have lost £130m in sales by that point.
M&S said today that online orders had now resumed in England, Scotland and Wales, with free home delivery within five days, and nominated delivery days available for flowers and hampers.
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