We all love our coupons. It has been a weekly, sometimes daily, pursuit to find, clip, organize, and fill out forms, contests, and surveys to acquire coupons. Some are small 25 cents off, while others are for totally FREE products!

But there’s a growing problem with fraudulent coupons ruining the fun for the rest of us. With a computer, a simple graphic program, a printer, and a little bit of know-how, ‘thieves’ are counterfeiting their own discounts based on the real coupons, and cashing in on free merchandise or selling them to unsuspecting couponers like us. This has forced companies to withdraw their coupon offers, sometimes even before the expiration date has been reached. That leaves those of us with real, legitimate coupons out cold.

So, what to do when your cashier tells you, “This is a fraudulent coupon!” There is a website, Coupon Information Corporation (CIC) where you can look up your coupon to see if there have been problems with fraud. The site gives information on how to contact the company; many companies will replace your legitimate coupon with another.

Sometimes you’ll find that the great coupon that you printed off your favorite message board is totally counterfeit…in other words, the company never issued a coupon, and what you just printed was totally made up and fraudulent. Many counterfeiters sell these coupons on auctions sites such as Ebay. So Buyer Beware: be careful when you buy up those 25 coupons on Ebay for free products. They are probably frauds.

Check the CIC website, and keep on couponing.

Related posts:

1. Get Into The Coupon Game: Clip, Organize, & Save!
2. Get Into the Grocery Coupon Game–Part Two
3. Remember those Restaurant, Service, and Store Coupons!