Daily Sitka Sentinel

Sitkans Warned of Coupon Scam


    Counterfeit coupons purchased over the internet are being used to purchase consumer goods in town, costing local businesses and consumers thousands of dollars, Sitka police report.
 

   “The source of the coupons is unknown at the present time; however, some have been purchased off ebay,” Lt. Barry Allen said in a news release. But he noted the coupons are coming from other sites as well.
    Allen said this is a widespread scam, and he alerted both consumers and retailers to be aware that the coupons are surfacing in Sitka. He said the fraud has been widely successful because it is difficult or impossible, for even the most savvy retailers and consumers to tell the difference between counterfeit and real coupons.
    “The bar codes are being duplicated, which means the retailer cannot simply omit the codes from computer register systems,” he said.
    He noted that most of the counterfeit coupons are for well-known brand names such as Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Huggies, Doritos and Listerine. “The list of common brand names being used seems to be about everything you would find on any store shelf in Alaska,” he said.
     “If you have to pay for the coupon it is almost certainly counterfeit,” Allen said. “Our information is that some persons locally are paying $80 to $100 for a $200 booklet of coupons.”
    A local retailer identified the coupons as counterfeit, he said.
    Allen said the safest approach is to use only coupons that are found on products in the store or from easily verified sources such as advertising flyers distributed by stores.
    He said businesses honoring the coupons have probably lost thousands of dollars already. “Tracking the actual loss has to be coordinated with the businesses’ coupon clearing house. The loss to persons purchasing coupons is largely unknown,” Allen said.
    Allen advised Sitkans to do some research before purchasing coupons off the internet.
    “Once you have made the purchase (of coupons) off the internet, there is no real likelihood of your money being recovered, especially from an out-of-state or out-of-country source,” he said. “There is a very real possibility that any information obtained from you for the purchase will likely be used fraudulently as well.”