Japan Railway-affiliated Tokyo shopping centers issue warning over point card scam

Atre Cards are still good, but their QR codes might take you someplace bad.

For a while there, “Everything lasts forever on the Internet” looked like it was going to become common sense. However, as time has gone by, we’ve learned that that’s not always true. Online permeance only extends so far as the constancy of server and domain maintenance, which brings us to a little problem involving East Japan Railway Company, or JR East.

Like a lot of rail companies in Japan, JR has its fingers in a lot of non-train pies too. For example, if you’ve spent much time in Tokyo you might have spotted the Atre shopping centers in neighborhoods like Akihabara, Ueno, Shinagawa, and Ebisu. Filled with retail stores, sit-down restaurants, and takeaway food stands, Atre shopping centers are always attached to train stations, because Atre is owned and operated by JR East.

Almost every shopping center in Japan has some kind of customer loyalty program, and Atre is no exception. Up until the end of February 2016, shoppers and diners could earn Atre Club points with each purchase and redeem them for gift certificates and other items through the service’s website. Some Atre Cards, as the point cards were called, even had a QR code on the back that you could scan to access the site more easily.

Atre Club has since been folded into JR East’s broader JRE Point program, with all Atre Club points being transferred over. The old Atre Cards are still usable, too. Show it when making purchases at Atre, and the points will go right into your JRE Point total. JR and Atre have put out a warning, though, that while the old Atre Cards themselves are still good, using their QR codes could result in something very, very bad.

Why? Because after JR shut down the Atre Club Point program, they also shuttered its website, and eventually abandoned control of its domain, atre-club.jp. Scanning the QR code on the back of the Atre Card, though, will still try to access it, which is a problem because the domain has since been acquired by scam artists, and the website is unsafe to use, presumably due to malware, phishing prompts, or other aspects targeting users’ data privacy and financial security.

The problem came to light last week and affects Atre Cards issued between October of 2013 and February of 2016. Atre put out a statement cautioning cardholders to not scan their QR codes or access atre-club.jp, reminding them that their loyalty program accounts are now managed through the JRE Point website. In a follow-up, Atre said that as of July 1 the scam site is no longer accessible, but continued avoidance of scanning the QR code or visiting atre-club.jp is recommended.

Source: Atre, J-Cast News via Yahoo! Japan News
Top image: Wikipedia/Wpcpey
Insert image: Atre
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