Coupon Fraud and Printable Coupons – a Solution

Every year, fraudulent coupons cost retailers over $500 million dollars. The situation is serious enough that many of the premiere U.S. law enforcement agencies, such as the FBI, FTC, IRS, and USPIS and even the Secret Service investigate, and prosecute, coupon fraud related crimes. Prison sentences are commonly 3 to 5 years, with fines in excess of $200,000.

  • The longest prison sentence for coupon fraud: 17 years.
  • The highest financial penalty: $5 million.

These crimes, and the financial impact on retailers, have been highest in the Northeast states. To protect themselves, many retailers in these areas no longer accept internet printable coupons. This is not personal to the customer; guidelines for identifying fraudulent coupons specify that coupons printed on only one side, or which appear to have been copied or altered, can not be accepted. Unfortunately, this describes most home-printed coupons.

This does not mean that consumers cannot use internet coupons, simply that they need to take a few extra steps to receive a verifiable manufacturer’s coupon.

Internet Coupons By Mail

Coupons, Inc. hosts and manages the Digital FSI coupon content network. All offers are protected by their industry-leading security, which carefully controls the distribution of each coupon across all sites on the network.

Few consumers are aware that any Coupons, Inc. Bricks™ coupon promotion can be Print & Mail™ -enabled, if the manufacturer pays for this feature. If a consumer has trouble printing a coupon, they can elect to receive the coupon by mail.

This offers two benefits: first, if a consumer has trouble printing a coupon, they can elect to receive the coupon by mail.

Second, and generally unknown, is that coupons mailed by Coupons, Inc. are printed on FSI Verifiable paper.

coupon verifiable logo
the back of Coupon, Inc paper
This is a unique paper; when scratched on the back with a coin, a unique logo is revealed:

coupon verified logo imprint
Because these coupons are verifiable, most stores that accept manufacturers coupons will accept Internet coupons printed on this paper. As long as the manufacturer has paid to have these coupons mailed, anyone can use these coupons and there’s no costs for paper and toner.

If you are interested in receiving coupons by mail, follow these instructions:To determine if your coupon is available by mail, first sign up for the coupon

coupons to select
Click on Print Coupon/Print Now An Active X install request should be displayed:
Instal coupons

(if you have previously installed the print software from Coupons, Inc., you can disable this feature by remove the Active X Control file from your computer. It is generally located inC: Windows/
File: cpbrkpie.ocx
Type: Active X Control) At this point, select Don’t Install.

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