Pharmavite LLC. has withdrawn the $3.00 and $5.00 off any Nature Made
coupons that were distributed exclusively in Walgreens’ “Diabetes & You” magazine
and associated website for Nature Made products sold at Walgreens stores.
Pharmavite LLC is taking this action due to unauthorized coupon redemptions at other retailers; the unauthorized transfer of coupons; and the unauthorized reproduction of the coupons on certain websites.
Here is the press release for more information
Since this is the third time in as many weeks that this has happened, his is the perfect opportunity to talk a little about coupon fraud. Lately, it appears what is happening are bloggers are taking high-dollar coupons that are only released for a SPECIFIC store in a SPECIFIC area, scanning them, converting them to pdf files and making the widely available for anyone to print.
As a blogger, I can understand this desire. The more eyeballs on your site, the more money (potentially) you can make. I also understand this as a couponer. Who wouldn’t want to save $5 on any Nature Made product? If you use that coupon at Walmart, you can get :fr: vitamins and overage. Shoot, if you print enough, you can get almost unlimited :fr: groceries with the overage! (If you every catch me in person, ask me about the things I’ve seen people do once you tell them that using a certain coupon in a certain way is fraudulent. The internet is full of crazy people)
The problem here is this is clearly coupon fraud. In fact, 99.99999% of the time, if you print a pdf coupon, you are committing coupon fraud. Virtually no one releases coupons through pdf specifically because it is impossible to limit the number of prints and it’s very easy to change the coupon language to remove limits on amounts you can use or where you can use them.
Another problem is every time an issue like this arises, steps are taken to make couponing more difficult. All you need to do is take a look at the ridiculous language on a P&G coupon to see the lengths these companies will go to to make life difficult for couponers.
In short, if you see a blogger offering a pdf coupon to print, report them to the company that coupon is for and DON’T PRINT THE COUPON!
Sometimes when we talk about coupon fraud, it isn’t taken very seriously because it is assumed that no one ever faces any consequences if they commit fraud. Let me assure you, that is not true. Be careful and protect yourself.
Aarn Farmer says
Thank you for your thoughtful reply and you certainly bring up some points I could have been clearer on. I whole-heartedly agree that the term “coupon fraud” is used far too much and we should probably come up with terms that would differentiate between someone using a coupon incorrectly because the coupon is unclear and someone willfully seeking to defraud a company by making a limited run coupon a pdf available for wide release. Unfortunately, there isn’t a quick and easy way to make that distinction.
The Bayer coupon in question was scanned by a blogger that unfortunately has a history of doing this. He has made a niche for himself being a “black hat” couponer. I wanted to make people aware of the issues surrounding this coupon. I am busy for the rest of the day but for the sake of clarity I will post your comment within the body of the blog post so the full story is heard. Thank you again.
Aarn Farmer says
You’ve got it. If it says “Manu Q” it is a manu Q regardless of what other store logos it has. The only national chain that I’m aware of that has an issue with using manu Qs with store logos is Dollar Tree but I haven’t really looked too much into it.
That info about the Nature Made Q didn’t come from me, it was copied directly from the CIC press release. I figure they know what they are talking about more than I do when it comes to coupon fraud.