I was once accquainted online with a guy who made up a Pizza Hut coupon out of thin air and got it on the major deal sites. Some people actually got stores to accept it.

@Bix: I suppose it all depends on what the profit margin is. If it is still in the retailer's monetary interest to make a sale at a lower profit versus no sale at all, they will probably go for it -- even knowing the coupon isn't legitimate.

Ah, I saw a copy of this coupon at a Target register this weekend. I wasnt aware printable coupons were accepted anywhere anymore. My local Kroger refuses to take any that didn't come from the paper.

My family members forward me all manner of useless petitions, crappy poems and gas station boycotts but they miss the fradulent coupon bus every time.

Bix, I think we may be talking about the same site! The fraudster reproduced a coupon(free Pizza) specifally for dissatisfied Pizza Hut customers. He hosted it and it cost Pizza Hut hundreds of thousands.

I reported it to a neighbor(PH management) and they refused them after. He told me it hit them at a time when online ordering was just starting and it lit up their order screens like Christmas trees!

The poster was banned, not when I reported it to them, but when I told them I reported their knowledge of it to Yahoo!

Why would anyone do such a thing to Target!?!

Reminds me of the story awhile ago about the guy who went to target with his own "sticker barcodes". He got some electronics for pennies on the dollar but got caught because store security saw him put the stickers on the products.

Thiefs will always try to get something for nothing. I say get a frigging job and pay for it like the rest of us.

Win for me. I already used my (legit) coupon for a present for my goddaughter, and now I get a $5 gift card? sweet.

Was gonna use this when i found some transformers, at least i'll be getting a giftcard. that was nice of them.

So I guess the coupon said toys on it but someone figured out the computer did not enforce the toys part. Odds are we won't be seeing another 5 dollar off toys coupon until target figures out a way to get the computer to enforce it.

For starters I work at Target...

This was a pretty big deal monday. There was a few communications from corporate on the issue and the ETL AP (security) guy came up and told everyone about it and they printed a bunch of notices to let people know.

Alot of these coupons must have been faked and used in many different regions for target to pull all of them out of use. It sucks for the customers and it sucks for people who work there who have to explain why they cant use their coupons.

Also it wasnt so much the computer not enforcing it. Targets system is actually very good compared to other retailers. Its that the direction is to override a coupon if for whatever reason it doesnt work so there was no reason for someone to distrust the customer.

They will not accept the valid one that still says toy either.

I'm one of the people who reported this as fraud to Target corporate and I feel good about myself right now because dishonest scammers, the anti-consumerist, can't use it anymore.

Target's own news release states:

"Target no longer is accepting coupon offers for $5 off a $25 or more toy or general merchandise purchase at Target."

GENERAL MERCHANDISE = Everything.
The use of the coupon for anything was by design and not fraudulent.

@jharrell: No, they are saying that the toy coupon (which was legit) and the General Merchandise coupon (fraudulent) both will no longer be accepted b/c previously stores were accepting them b/c no one knew that they were fakes.

I work for Target and accepted probably about 5 of these fraudulent coupons in about a weeks time because we had no idea that it was not one of ours. Two days before they posted we could no longer accept either of them, I had a lady use one and she had 6 of them printed off on a piece of paper saying that one of her friends had e-mailed them to her.

At least the people who were supposed to really get the coupons will get rewarded, but you also have to wonder if they caught the person? Because sending out coupons to the rightful people a second time could possibly result in someone fraudulently reproducing them again because that person who did it most likely was one of the original people.

@jharrell: No. The coupon was for "Toy Purchase" as stated in the statement issued by Target. Target will not take a $5 off of Toy or General Merchandise (the fradulent coupon) coupon at all, as they said in their statement.

Basically they had to cover both categories as the coupon has been altered to cover general merchandise.

@Bix: When I managed several Domino's Pizza's (mind you this was over 20 years ago) we had a rule: if it looked like a coupon and it wasn't more than $2 off, we took it. And we had a very liberal definition of "looked like a coupon" -- we literally took coupons that customers drew with crayons.

From a customer retention perspective (something that Domino's was very concerned with 20 years ago), two bucks off a pizza was small potatoes. You bet the customer who drew a coupon with crayons called back and ordered more pizza. THAT was the point.

Five bucks off $20 isn't too bad today when you figure that retail is getting killed right now. I'd think they would set a time limit, say July 15, take the coupon until then, and call it a success. Oh well.

@humphrmi: Looked like a Domino's coupon? We used to just make them up when we ordered domino's coupons for delivery.

"I have a coupon for 2 medium, 1-topping pizzas for $8...What color? Oh, this coupon is blue."

I'm surprised we don't hear about this happening more often. Anyone with Photshop and a decent selection of fonts could do this. I can even name that font, or at least a very similar one-it's a very common one among designers. But just because it's easy to do, doesn't mean you should do it.

What is the difference between a $5 gift card and $5 off a purchase?

Oh, and why can't Target go ahead and honor the coupon on TOYS as originally intended?

This pisses me off!

If people keep doing this shit Target may discontinue printable/on-line coupons all together!

Target is already really generous with the coupons. I check the site weekly and there is always new coupons!

@sleze69: Actually I said "looked like a coupon", we didn't care if it was Domino's or not.

@Mom2Talavera: Alternatively, instead of discontinuing coupons, Target could issue handguns to their managers and instruct them to shoot themselves in the foot. Same effect. Coupons drives sales during recessions. They offer $5 off hoping that people spend a lot more than $20, and in today's economy getting someone to spend $50 or $100 in a retail store in one visit is quite a bit better than them not coming into the store at all.

@SpaceCat85: lots of sites(like Organic valley.com) use a program called "coupon printer"

[www.couponsinc.com]

the coupons have a special border and other features only an authentic coupon would have. I'm shocked a company as big as Target doesn't utilize a program like this.

@Corporate-Shill: Because not only were people using an altered version of the coupon, but what was obviously supposed to be a limit coupon only sent out to certain customers has been freely passed around the net and used many times, most likely many times by one person alone.

As for the difference between the coupon and gift card, the gift card isn't being sent out to every dishonest idiot that checks Fat Wallet and SlickDeals, and instead is only being given to those that the coupon was supposed to be for.

@Mom2Talavera:
I got one of those coupons, so curiosity caused me to scan it & then print it.
The original got printed my my 4 year old Canon S750 in color, I printed the copy on a laser.
Other than the color/B&W difference, they looked the same.
These companies are just fooling themselves with these goofy programs that print a coupon without your ever actually seeing it.

And I ended up throwing out both of them because I didn't want the stuff due to the conditions printed on the coupon, but not stated on the site.

@Greasy Thumb Guzik: Of course if you scan one of the coupons it will look the same...it isn't like they can make it print out with holograms/UV things on it...the problem is each coupons Inc. (or "Bricks" as it is referred to on couponing sites), is that they are uniquely coded.

The problem is, they can just be duplicated and most people do not know/have the time to check the numbers. The numbers can be typed in on a website to see if it was already redeemed/it isn't a fake, but who is going to do that with lines of customers?

This post is in no way condoning the counterfeiting of coupons (that's pure theft), but anyone else remember the days when you could get a coupon that just say "15% off" and didn't require a minimum? Or even "$5" with no minimum purchase? Actually, there are still places that send out coupons like that. God bless those places.

Granted, though, if it's Target, you're already getting things at a bargain without the coupon.

@MBZ321: But even if a store used a coding system like that and had the cashiers check every coupon, that's still a bad way to go about things. If, as a customer, I received a coupon online, and then got to the store and was told 'sorry, someone else on the internet already used that one', it would generate a lot more bad will than if I'd never gotten a coupon at all.

I understand why Target had to do what they did in this case since it was out-and-out tampering, but I think in general, companies should realize that if they release coupons online, they really can't expect to control the number of people who might want to redeem them.

If your profit margin can only withstand giving 5000 people X discount, then suck it up and get 5000 coupons professionally printed and mail them out the old fashioned way.

@jharrell: "General Merchandise" does not mean "Everything in the store" in the retail world. It's not "Merchandise in general," at least not in any store that I've worked in.

GM is usually items that do not fit neatly into one of the other categories. General Merchandise is things like books & magazines or seasonal items. It's called "General Merchandise" because "Odds & Ends" or "Leftover Crap" looks bad on the price sticker.

@MBZ321:

I would say the only way one could use the fake coupons is to pay with cash. It would be stupid to use a bunch fake coupons at a store and then use your credit/debit card to pay.Plus one couldn't go to the same store over& over...you would have to alternate stores.

The only time I really use coupons is for food and I buy most of my food from these two health food stores in town. No long lines like a big box store.They do check. Most of the time I flirt with the pathetic douche at the co-op and he gives me the senior discount...anyways
;-P

Target also sends me catalogs with a coupon card attached or this "clip-less coupon" card thing.

@NinjaMarion: the gift card isn't being sent out to every dishonest idiot that checks Fat Wallet and SlickDeals, and instead is only being given to those that the coupon was supposed to be for.

I see the store itself benefiting the most from the Fat Wallet site, people may not buy elsewhere if they can save $5 or 10% off, or they may choose to purchase something based on the coupon that they may not have bought at all.

@parad0x360: Of course, in my experience the computer can't tell if the transaction in question is for toys, pets, food, etc. Just that the correct dollar amount has been reached. Still sucks though. We had one were the person printed the entire email they got and said "Hey, I've already used it twice."