I saw this posted on Facebook and I just had to share it here on TFF as well. This is absolutely crazy and just makes me shake my head.
A widespread counterfeiting and forgery operation linked to a Phoenix home has led to the arrests of three woman and the seizure of $25 million in fake coupons, Phoenix police said. More than 40 of the nation’s largest manufacturers were victimized in what is believed to be the first case of its kind in the U.S. Read more over here…
I thought this would be a good opportunity to discuss coupon fraud again. I covered the topic in this post, but it all boils down to how you acquire a coupon. I’m going to go out on a limb here and suggest that you NEVER purchase coupons. I’ll be honest, I’ve purchased groups of coupons from the Sunday paper before on Ebay when I wanted to stock up on a particular item. Not anymore though. I just never realized this kind of fraud was going on. The sellers on Ebay say they’re not selling the coupons, but instead they’re selling their time – the time it takes them to clip and ship the coupons. I say it’s a mighty fine line. I suppose the same goes for coupon clipping services, thought I’d love to hear what you think about this. FREE product coupons should always raise a red flag for you though.
If you’re unsure if a coupon is valid, you can check this list of known fraudulent coupons first. You should know that ANY printable coupon I post here on The Frugal Find is safe to use and coupons from coupons.com, redplum.com, Coupon Network, or Smartsource.com have their own encrypted fraud safeguarding. They can and have been able to track back to individuals who abuse these coupons by making photo copies or altering their printers computers to override print limits. Please DO NOT take part in any of these practices.
Isn’t this an absolutely CRAZY story?!
Thanks Bargain Briana for sharing this news article!
Lauren July 11, 2012 at 11:53 am
I’m a victim of this scam. I bought a set of 10 Free Fresh Step cat litter coupons on Ebay that I believe were sourced from this scam, and I got in a pickle with the grocery store I used them at because they were forged. They ended up charging my credit card the full price for each of the litter coupons that I used. *sigh*
Julia July 11, 2012 at 12:14 pm
Oh dear, I’m so sorry!!
anne July 11, 2012 at 12:12 pm
omg. this is crazy. i bought some coupons on ebay, not from them, but they were fake also. the seller
was adiment in saying that they were real, and would not refund my money. i even reported to the CIC.
I never thought there would be so many fake coupons out there.
Julia July 11, 2012 at 12:13 pm
Wow! Were they Sunday Coupon Insert coupons? I’ve bought these types twice, but never a free coupon. So scary!
Arlene July 11, 2012 at 1:31 pm
Odd. They have a spot for a wall of shame? They should list themselves first!
clkdayton July 12, 2012 at 12:01 pm
I saw that too and that’s what I thought also!!! Such a shame….
Jennifer July 11, 2012 at 1:55 pm
So I’d like to know your thoughts on someone that has multiple computers. If it’s 2 prints per computer is it okay to print 2 coupons per computer? So 3 computers would give you 6 of the same coupon and so on.
dawn July 11, 2012 at 3:34 pm
As usual there are people to take advantage of others and it always ends up bitting the people who do the right thing.
Christa July 11, 2012 at 4:44 pm
Unbelievable! I find it comical that on their home page that is still up http://savvyshoppersite.com/, that they have a “Wall of Shame” in which they try to publicly humiliate those that have written them bad checks, are con artists, or scammers. Oh, the irony!
jaimee July 11, 2012 at 4:57 pm
I have numerous free item coupons that have come directly from various companies (my husband won cereal for a year from Malt O Meal that came in the form of 52 free item coupons)… they are a huge help to our budget, and completely legit, but how do I “prove” they’re legit & came directly from the company after this?
Kelly July 11, 2012 at 5:48 pm
I bought the 1.99 Cocoa Puffs at Safeway and tried to use the $1.00/2 coupon from coupons.com and it wouldn’t scan for some reason. The policy at Safeway is that if it won’t scan, they won’t take it. But the checker said that Safeway is getting stricter because of all the fraud going on. Crazy. Thanks ALOT “savvyshoppers!”
I felt all guilty though like they thought I was trying to scam them.
Patricia July 12, 2012 at 8:55 am
This morning at Wal-Mart I was told they were not going to take internet coupons because they were having too many fraudulent ones. It is too bad that a few bad apples ruin it for those of us playing by the rules. I wish there was a better way to prove it is not a copy or a fraud coupon for those of us just trying to save a little.
Cindy July 12, 2012 at 11:25 am
These coupons were made overseas and so well made I don’t think you could tell they were not real. Just common sense should tell you they were fraudulent. Ebay sellers were buying these in bulk and selling them on Ebay. Some are still there. When you see the same coupon being sold in multiples, (not insert coupons) they are most likely frauds.
Darla Forbes July 12, 2012 at 11:45 am
Good for the folks(wall of shame listees) that scammed the scammers!