Avoiding Coupon Fraud

At Butterball, we love being able to provide consumers with coupons to reward them for their loyalty, help them lower grocery costs and excite them about new products. With coupon fraud occurring nationwide, it is important to us that our consumers understand the serious dangers associated with purchasing or receiving coupons from a non-legitimate source.

Bud Miller, CPP, Executive Director of the Coupon Information Center states that “purchasing coupons on the Internet, whether it is from independent websites, e-mail or from online auctions,” exposes coupon purchasers “to the possibility of becoming involved with counterfeits, stolen property or other criminal activities.” In these situations, purchasers may also “expose themselves to additional risk by providing their names, home addresses and financial information to organized crime rings.”

Fortunately, consumers can easily protect themselves from these dangers by following a few simple guidelines, courtesy of the Coupon Information Center:

1. Never pay money for coupons or coupon related “opportunities.”
2. Beware of invalid disclaimers, such as “You are not paying for the coupons, but for the time and effort it took to clip them.”
3. Be wary of any coupon emailed to you by anyone but the manufacturer or its authorized distributor.
4. If a coupon is visible on a computer screen, it is probably counterfeit.
5. Free product coupons are seldom, if ever, distributed on the Internet.
6. If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.

For more information about coupon fraud, please visit the “Federal Trade Commission website”: http:www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/invest/inv06.shtm or the “Coupon Information Center website”: http:www.couponinfomationcenter.com.