Here is why you should always pause before buying “too good to be true” coupons on the internet!
On Tuesday morning, cops raided four Phoenix-area properties and arrested three women who are accused of running the largest counterfeit coupon crime ring in the USA. Police sezied over $25 million of bogus coupons, assault weapons and vehicles (plus a boat to boot!)
Over forty manufacturers were stiffed in the fraud scheme, but they got the last laugh when they cooperated with authorities to bring the accused to justice. Now three women from the Phoenix, Arizona area – Robin Ramirez, Amico Fountain and Marilyn Johnson – will have to face the music.
You can read the full article here.
Extreme Couponing Tip: You can usually get two prints of most internet coupons. To find them in the easiest possible way, use our preclipped links that take you right to the coupon. Then come back and click the same link to get your 2nd print. This will save you the time spent searching for the coupon.
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Wow
might be why coupon values suck lately….they have to make up for this crap!
Manufacturers do not pay for the fraudulent coupons. the Stores are the ones that lose out on that deal.
Actually, one of the articles I read said that these were high-quality copies of coupons that were actually issued, so in many cases they were paid by the manufacturer.
Yes, one of the articles I read said these are the type of coupons for free product that manufacturers send selectively to consumers who contact them with complaints. That type of coupon is not meant for widespread distribution, so they often do not have typical security measures like the holograms that appear on high-value BOGO-type coupons sent with a wide distribution (like the Swiffer BOGOs we get in P&G mailed booklets), and the lack of security measures made them easier to copy.
Wow, that article had both good & bad info in it.
1st – I’ve always wondered where the sellers on eBay or the people on Extreme Couponing got all those “free item” coupons! I just couldn’t figure that one out & figured something wasn’t right.
2nd – A couple of those final remarks were not accurate.
“-Beware of invalid disclaimers, such as “You are not paying for the coupons, but for the time and effort it took to clip them.” —- All coupon clippers, from what I’ve seen, put this disclaimer on their site, and rightfully so, as they’re not legally allowed to *sell* coupons.
-”If a coupon is visible on a computer screen, it is probably counterfeit” ———- What the heck is that supposed to mean??
I’ve bought dozens of coupons on eBay & from clippers in the last few months because it’s cheaper & more targeted than buying tons of newspapers. I had probs with just one set of coupons; all the rest have been fine, normal, cents off coupons. I also only buy when I can see the coupon, or when it’s from a TOP, TOP rated seller, as in 5 digits of sales.
That magazine looked interesting Steve – I’m going back to read more!!
Yeah, I didn’t care for the comments at the end either.
I watched this on TV this morning and can not believe the amount of money. Now I wonder that TLC’s Extreme coupon series that we saw and these ladies on show had all kind of free product coupons: toilet paper, soda…and I can not figure out how did they get them. Now I know there they come from. Just hope that we do not get burned from these crap
I agree that the recommendations of the Coupon Information Corp (CIC) spokesperson are too restrictive, but it should not surprise anyone after reading those end-of-article comments that the CIC represents major manufacturers like P&G and Kraft. If you read through the “best practices” document on the CIC website, you’ll see that the group also believes stores should reject Internet printable coupons that are valued in excess of 75% of the sale price of a product. That would mean none of us would ever be able to score free product with sale + IP MQ combos if the CIC is allowed to set the rules.
I do, however, agree that a clipping service that claims, “You are not paying for the coupons, but for the time and effort it took to clip them” is being dishonest. Of course people are paying for the coupons, and the proof of that is that clipping services charge more for higher-value coupons than they do for lower-value coupons. Why would that be the case if consumers are only paying for the time to clip the coupon? It doesn’t take more time to clip a $3.00/1 RP coupon than it does to clip a $0.25/1 RP coupon.
All good points
When I saw this, I remembered seeing a notice up in a local grocery. Posted up by the office was a photocopy of a $5.00 off coupon on Bar-S products and the instructions not to accept them as they were counterfeit. When I saw that, I thought to myself, so that’s what is going on. You’d have to be bold as brass to make up that kind of high value coupon and try to pass it. These greedy people are going to ruin it for all of us who go by the rules and want to keep getting and using the real coupons.
I don’t think they’re going to ruin couponing. I just think that several of them will go to prison. Making a few examples out of people goes a long way
Yeah I know someone who had ordered these free product coupons from the website they had up. She showed it to me several months ago to see if I wanted to order anything, and I declined and told her it just seemed really fishy how these people could have so many free product coupons…lo and behold, I was right about that! Upon telling her of this news today, she was more upset over the fact that she wouldn’t be able to get her free product coupons anymore than upset to know she had been using counterfeit coupons all along….SMH! Crazy stuff.