Couponer's Alert - Fake Email Coupons

There is a new group of fake dollar-off coupons for common household products circulating by email. The products, including Oil of Olay, Tide and Pepsi, have higher than normal discounts such as $5 off a product less than $10.00. The bogus coupons contain bar codes that will work at the checkout counter, but they are not distributed by the manufacturers.

These hard-to-spot coupons are slipping through store checkouts because they look like any other real coupon. Companies are asking that couponers be on the lookout of coupons which offer unreasonably high dollar off deals such as a Revlon coupon for $5.00 off a $6.00 product.

Those who have used coupons to save money on their weekly groceries know all to well the damage that fake coupons can create. Just a few years ago coupons for grocery products could easily be found online, but because of all the fakes that began cropping up, many grocery stores began refusing Internet coupons.

This type of theft may be viewed by some as harmless, but there is little difference in using a bogus coupon and reaching into a grocery store's register and stealing the money. Generally, if a store accepts a fraudulent coupon they will not be redeemed by the manufacturer and have to take the loss. If the loss is too great, products are marked up in order to help absorb the shortage.

Other products which may be showing up with fake coupons include, Ibuprofen, Tide, Tropicana, Neutrogena, Lysol, Hellman’s Mayonnaise and Advil. If you get an unusally high dollar-off coupon in your email box, print it and take it to your local store so they can see what it looks like. Some stores are already blocking the coupons so they can not be redeemed, but maybe your store is still unaware of the fakes.

See Also: Consumers Want Online Printable Coupons

More: Police Warn About Fake Coupons