Your friend has this great coupon for $1 off your favorite cereal. You have no access to a printer, so you decide to make a copy. Thinking nothing of it, you make 3 copies of the coupon and go on about your day. Is this coupon fraud?
The answer...
Yes. This is absolutely coupon fraud. The question is why?
Your coupon is comparable to cash. No one would dare dream to make a copy of a $10 bill and attempt to use it at the cash register. The same happens here. Copied coupons is considered fraud and one could be in serious trouble if the store attempted to press charges.
How can a store tell when a coupon has been copied?
Each coupon includes printed items that are not picked up by a copier. For example, a light watermark behind the coupon description that helps to verify it is legit. Also, in fine print along the edges of a coupon is a unique, trackable code that can be identified with your computer.
Store cashiers are also trained to identify the unique serial numbers that are noted on a coupon. Considering most coupon printing sites have a limit of only 2 coupons, it would be rather obvious you have 4 with the same serial number.
Please remember that store's turn in their coupons weekly to be reimbursed for accepting the coupons you used. If the manufacturer deems a coupon fraudulent than the store is not reimbursed. In the long run, the store looses money that you should have paid, making the items in your cart (purchased with copied coupons) stolen.
Are PDF coupons okay to use?
PDF coupons are legit in some cases. My recommendation is to only use PDF coupons when printed directly from the manufacturers website. For example, Helluva Good Sour Cream dips still use a PDF version coupon. When you run across PDF coupons, there is no limit to how many you can print however it is common courtesy to only print two. Stores may reject PDF coupons due to their similarity to a fraudulent coupon but I have not run into any issues yet.
If I think a coupon I printed may be fraudulent, how can I check?
A great website to use is http://www.cents-off.com/. This website maintains a list of coupons that are fraudulent. A good rule of thumb is that if the coupon is too good to be true, it often is.
Many manufacturers have also tightened up on the number of high-value coupons that are available to print via Internet. Several companies are now requesting you to submit a form for a high-value coupon so that they can mail it to you. These mailed coupons typically include a special seal or watermark so stores can verify authenticity.
What do you recommend I do to avoid printing an illegal coupon?
First, I recommend that you stick to legitimate coupon sites. The following are legit. You should be able to print 1-2 of the same coupon from these sites, depending on the manufacturer's preference. Don't forget to use different zip codes so that you can locate different types of coupons.
- http://www.coupons.com/
- http://www.redplum.com/
- http://www.smartsource.com/
- http://www.couponnetwork.com/
- http://www.mambosprouts.com/
