Over the past two weeks I have seen a rise in fraudulent coupon all around our small town.  I was at the store last week and a cashier who did not know me (aka Scary Coupon Lady) pulled out a 12 page list of all the fraudulent coupons that have been circulating.  After all my coupon checked out she apologize and began to scan each one.  I told that there was no problem and I was glad she was checking things out.  She then preceded to tell me that corp. has been cracking down on printed coupons and that cashiers are getting in trouble.  While she scanning the coupons I asked to see her list so I could let you know which coupons are fake.

There are a couple of good rules to follow if you don’t know if a coupon is real or not.

• Was it sent to you by email or in a PDF or JPEG form?
• Can you print as many as you want?
• Is it a funny amount?  Many of the coupons on the list were for a strange amount like $3.36 or $11.74.
• Is the coupon for a completely free item?  Many companies who want to give you a free product will send you the coupon snail mail.
• Is it too good to be true?

If you answered yes to any of these question, you probably have a fraudulent coupon.  If you ever have a question you can go to the Coupon Information Corporation.  They have a list of coupons that are fake.  I wanted to let you know that the stores are taking this very seriously and are threatening prosecution for those who print, email and use these coupons.  If you think that they can’t track you think again, you know that little Shopper Loyalty card you use…

Just use a little common sense and print your coupons from the sites Savvy Shopping Moms links you to directly.  Coupons.com, Redplum.com and Smartsoure.com are a few sites that are safe.

Shop safe and smart!