Counterfeit Coupons

Counterfeit coupons are everywhere. Day after day people adjust real coupons to suit their needs. These people sometimes keep these counterfeit coupons to themselves. Other times the counterfeit coupons are reproduced, then sold on eBay to unsuspecting buyers or distributed among their friends. This rise in fraudulent and counterfeit coupons is causing stores to crackdown on accepting internet printable (IP) coupons and making it harder for the honest coupon-using person to save a couple bucks.

A recently counterfeit coupon that was discovered was the Target Toy coupon. Target's original intent for the Toy coupon was for shoppers to save $5 when spending $25 or more on toys. With the technology of today, it was easy for someone to take off the toy picture and create a $5 off a $25 purchase coupon.

When Target became aware of the situation, they promptly sent memos to each Target store. The memo included pictures of the counterfeit coupon as well as the real toy coupon. Neither one will be accepted at any Target. The fraudulent or counterfeit coupon created such an uproar that many Targets refused to accept any internet printable coupons at all.

As precautionary measures, many stores will no longer accept internet printable coupons. Other stores may put a limit on the number of internet printable coupons allowed per transaction or they may put a limit on the value of the coupon.

The newest talk of counterfeit or fraudulent coupons were the ones distributed on Facebook through the check it out application. For a brief period, high value coupons were visible and able to be printed by Facebook members. While Vyrl Marketing claims the coupons were illegally reproduced in .pdf files, the company did not take security measures to ensure this did not happen.More information can be found here.

How do you spot counterfeit coupons? First, trust your instincts. If the coupon is too good to be true, chances are that it is fraudulent. The website www.cents-off.com is run by the Coupon Information Corporation (CIC). To keep coupon users and stores informed, the CIC has a list of known counterfeit coupons on their website.

If in doubt, you can contact the company listed on the coupon. Each coupon has the remittance information in the fine print so the retailers know where to send them for reimbursement. Usually a phone number or email address can be located by searching the coupons remittance address.

Coupon fraud is a crime and punishable by law. To ensure that retailers will continue to take internet printable coupons in the future, it is the responsibility of the coupon user to use only valid coupons on purchases.