Reader Carol alerted me to a few fraudulent printable coupons that are currently circulating via email.
The fake coupons include:
If you receive any of these coupons, destroy any you’ve printed and do not use them. Also, kindly let the sender know that they are fraudulent coupons and that they should not use them.
Additionally, the CIC (Coupon Information Center) is even offering a $5,000 reward for information that leads to the successful prosecution of the individual(s) responsible for producing the $9 Tide counterfeit coupon.
If you’re wondering how to spot fraudulent coupons like these, here are a few red flags:
Email Attachment – Manufacturers NEVER send out coupons as an attachment in an email. They will use a printable coupon program (like bricks or smartsource) to limit prints.
PDF Coupon – Coupons in PDF form (coupons that are viewed in adobe reader and can be printed unlimited times) are also suspicious. There are very rare instances of legitimate pdf coupons (for instance Scotch 3m offers pdf coupons), but I do not trust them unless they are hosted on the manufacturer’s website.
Free Product Coupon – Printable coupons for FREE products are always suspicious. If they are legitimate they will be hosted on the manufacturer’s website or on a popular coupon printing site like Coupons.com. If it is legitimate, you WILL NOT be able to print it as many times as you want – there WILL be a limit of some sort.
You can also check the Coupon Information Corporation (CIC) to see if the coupon is listed on their counterfeit coupon list. Even if the coupon is not listed, if it looks suspicious – just don’t use it.
Thanks, Carol!
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View Comments
I ran across these fraudulent coupons and am amazed at how cleverly they have been manufactured. They look exactly like the coupons from the Smartsource website but with one exception: the print border has a date of March 2011! We have to stay on top of this. I will never use another coupon that was emailed to me as a PDF attachment. I took all the Tide and Cottonelle back to the store because it's just stealing. Lesson learned.
The CIC site is so informative! Thank you for posting this I will keep an eye on that list of Counterfeit Coupons because it doesn't hurt to always check.