Some ways to avoid counterfeit coupons and to tell if you may have counterfeit coupons…
Use coupons from the paper
Use Coupons from reputable printable sources. (coupons.com, redplum, smartsource…) BGCouponers printable coupons are through an affiliate program with coupons.com and come from coupons.com. When BGCouponers print these coupons, they help us to provide resources to our area.
Some manufacturer’s offer coupons in PDF form that can be printed multiple times. When legitimate, these will come directly from the manufacturer’s site. If you are unsure, check the URL (address) at the top of the page.
- (Except in the above situation) Real coupons limit the number of prints. You should never see the actual coupon on the screen.
- Brand sites are a great place to get reputable coupons.
- Avoid swapping sites and sites that have images of coupons. (Reputable Information sites will blur the coupon image and codes so that it can not be printed from the screen)
- One of the best ways to avoid fraudulent coupons is to never pay for a coupon and Don’t buy coupons on auction sites.
- Don’t scan coupons or print scanned images of coupons. One way these are caught (besides the identifiable number being the same on every coupon, is that the scan distorts the image.
- Be suspicious of printable coupons for free products and high value coupons. (- that being said there was just recently a legitimate coupon for a free Lipton Tea. So it can happen – it is good to verify these offers and make sure it comes from a reputable source)
Check the Coupon Information Corporation’s list of Identified Counterfeit Coupons regularly. This site has a verify it link on the right that will let you check printable coupons to verify they are legit. If you are not sure of the coupon source, this is a good resource. If you buy coupons online, this is a great resource to check them. New coupons are also being added all the time to this list as coupons are returned.
Using counterfeit coupons not only costs the store money, it costs us money in increased prices. Additionally as counterfeit coupons become more common it causes stores to increase their coupon policies to exclude more items.
The CIC has identified over 21 counterfeit coupons in June alone! That is scary!
