Coupon Fraud
You know that feeling when something is just too good to be true? I got that last week when a friend forwarded an email that said attached was a document full of coupons—some for $5 and some for free products—from major brands. The email said it sounded too good to be true, but the person used some of them at the grocery store just the night before and they worked. So I happily printed and cut them out and started flipping through them.
I took the first two in the stack and went to their respective websites (they were correctly listed on the coupon) and searched for the coupon itself and didn't find them. I didn't see a warning about fake coupons but I emailed their feedback link for good measure. I described the coupons and asked if they were legit.
I admit I took one coupon to the store and tried it out. The coupon didn't scan but the cashier punched in the amount off ($5 off any size Tide product) without thinking twice. Still, something didn't sit well with me—especially because it didn't scan.
The next day I got a response from my email to the first company: Tropicana. It confirmed what I was afraid of:
RE: a Tropicana Product , REF.# 025654327A
Cara:
We appreciate the opportunity to address your concerns.
A fraudulent $2 Tropicana coupon is circulating on the internet. Here is how you can positively identify that it is counterfeit.
1. It has an expiration date of 6/30/07
2. The last numbers under and to the right side of the bar code read: 33271
0204 3. The coupon also says "Thank you for visiting Tropicana.com" 4. It does
not scan or validate because of poor bar code quality
If you'd like to see exactly what the coupon looks like, go to (www.cents-off.com). This is the website that grocers use to find out about
counterfeit coupons.
Melissa
Tropicana Consumer Response
I went to the website she described and found nearly all of the coupons found in the original email. I informed the person who originally emailed me and hopefully that group of people who received them have sense enough not to use them.
I will think twice before I sacrifice my integrity to save a buck. Surely our character is worth more. Sometimes if it's too good to be true, it's probably the case
Comments
Cara, I am so proud of you. Your book is really good, I can't wait for a wedding to try it. Tell Jeff to watch out for the Girraf's
Posted by: Lynn Gurney | April 1, 2006 09:57 PM
Great reading, keep up the great posts.
Peace, JiggaDigga
Posted by: JiggaDigga | April 7, 2006 01:03 AM