Coupon Fraud Alert: Nature Made Vitamin Coupons Withdrawn

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 has withdrawn the $3.00 and $5.00 off any Nature Made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 FREE vitamins and overage.  Shoot, if you print enough, you can get almost unlimited FREE 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.

Coupon Fraud Alert: Nature Made Vitamin Coupons Withdrawn