There are always going to be a number of counterfeit coupons that are circulated on the internet. It is up to you the user of the coupon to determine if your coupon is legitimate or if is a fake.

WUC wants to make sure that you are a responsible couponer, so we can all continue to enjoy the deals and savings we enjoy by using legitimate coupons.

Legitimate internet coupons will have the following:

• 2 sets of Linear Bar codes located at the bottom of the coupon

  This barcode identifies the manufacturer, the item, and the value of the coupon.

• Usage policy in small print (just like coupons you get from your inserts)
• Expiration date
• Redemption information
• A single 2D barcode at the top right of the coupon

  This barcode identifies the ip address the coupon was printed from. Most internet coupon sites will allow you to print two of the same coupon per computer. However, each coupon will have a unique number sequence that is specific to the ip address of your computer.

If you are new, you may not be aware that it is illegal to photocopy a coupon. Photocopying a coupon is a criminal offense that can be investigated and prosecuted by Federal, State or Local law enforcement authorities.

Back in 2003, a number of individuals flooded the market with fraudulent internet coupons. Manufacturers and stores incurred huge losses due to the fraudulent coupons and one of the reasons that a lot of stores either will not accept or have a strict policy regarding internet printable coupons.

Here are some ideas that may help you when you are redeeming internet printable coupons:

• When you print an IP coupon, print the entire web page with it. Do not cut out the coupon but give the entire page to the cashier.
• Print the coupons in color. Black and white coupons look more like photocopies and are less likely to be accepted.
• Show the manager of the store your internet coupons prior to shopping and get his approval of the coupons.
• Avoid trying to redeem multiple copies of the same coupon (printed from various computers).

This is just basic information, but we want to emphasize - please use coupons correctly, legitimately so we all will enjoy the benefit of saving money.

I appreciate this. Being computer savvy, I was worried about how to identify "good" printed Qs

I am new to using coupons and did not know how to identify fraudulent coupons. Thank you for posting the information.

Thank you, as you stated, being new to coupon usage, I was not aware of fraudulent internet coupon usage.

Thank you

There is a list of counterfeit coupons on the CIC Web Site.

(I can't currently post the url, due to our limited activity on this web site. Please feel free to post the link if you care to.)

Bud Miller

I printed out 3 coupons from a website and they didn't have an expiration date on them.When I noticed that I threw them away because I thought they would give me a hard time about them.Never did I think that they might be fraudulent .Thanks for the info.

It would be extremely unusual, but still possible, for a legitimate coupon not to have an expiration date.

If you PM or email the website to me, I can take a look at it and give you my opinion.

Bud

Thank you for the information.

good to know thank you

Very interesting. Thanks for this info.