It’s fraud. It’s outright stealing.
If you use counterfeit coupons, you are a thief.
Take a look at this beauty. It’s been circulating the internet and created quite a lot of excitement among teens and college age people, who normally leave the coupon clipping to their parents
Yes, it’s a counterfeit coupon for a free 4 pack of AMP energy drink. It’s been sold on the internet, with unlimited downloads. People just print it over and over – and it is a counterfeit.
Now if you want some real deals on AMP – go to Kroger. AMP is a participating product in their $10 catalina deal. Buy ten, get the catalina, and go back to get ten more.
Coupons are cash. So a counterfeit is like making a sophisticated copy of dollar bills and passing them off as the real thing. In short, counterfeiting – which is against the law.
This particular example was a scan of a real coupon which was then posted on gaming networks and cheat sites. Yes, there really are such things as sites devoted to cheating. Most stores are aware of it, and some will deal aggressively with those who attempt to redeem this coupon. The problem is not that it is a printable coupon – the problem is that it is a counterfeit.
Real printable coupons have watermarks and codes that are picked up by the scanner at the checkout, or that can be seen by the checker but not by a photocopy machine or computer scanner. Real printable coupons usually have built in limits for printing.
If you use this coupon at some stores, you may find that security is called. After all, when you use a counterfeit coupon, you are attempting to steal an item from a store, same as if you lifted it and hid it in your purse or your jacket or covered it up. You are stealing. It doesn’t matter if the store is a large chain, or a small mom and pop. It’s still stealing, since the store will be out the goods with no reimbursement from the company.
Counterfeiters make life difficult for legitimate couponers, especially those who use internet printables. Once a cashier has been scammed by a counterfeiter, they will be cautious to not be fooled again – and those are the ones who look and look and look at your printable coupons, calling the manager to look and look and look while the line grows longer and people get grouchy and wonder what you’re up to.
Real couponers don’t use counterfeits. Find out more about counterfeits here: http://deals.families.com/counterfeits-and-scams,f612