A fake coupon is a type of coupon fraud that occurs when a consumer uses a coupon for an item that he/she has not purchased. This happens when a retailer makes a counterfeit coupon either by photocopy or by glittering. To be able to analyze how to detect a fake coupon, we need to first analyze the various forms of coupon fraud.
Types of coupon fraud:
Coupon glittering
This occurs when someone glitches or exploits an error in such a way the coupon uses a high-value coupon for an item purchased other than the one it was originally meant to purchase.
Making multiple coupons
Any photocopied coupon is fraud. This occurs when users make a photocopy of coupons which is against the law and the terms and conditions of coupons.
Counterfeit coupons
Counterfeit coupons can also be regarded as disguised coupons. This happens when a coupon has been disguised to be authentic, which is usually done with inflated values to entice people. This is the most common coupon fraud people fall victim to.
Coupon balancing
A balanced coupon occurs when a user uses a coupon to purchase a product that it was not originally specified to purchase.
HOW TO SPOT FAKE COUPONS
The use of coupons in businesses has become global in recent times. It is followed with quite some benefits for both the manufacturer and the intended users. As a result of the benefits accompanied by coupons, people tend to abuse if by faking coupons for their benefit. As a result of the high rate of coupon fraud, and how they carry out this evil act, in this article, various means of spotting a fake coupon have been identified to prevent any type of coupon fraud.
Things to look out for when you spot a fake coupon:
Free advertised coupon
Based on research, it has been concluded that most free coupons are fake. Discount has been given on a product already in form of a coupon, why would they give out another for free. When you click on a free coupon that is fake, you are mostly directed to an unknown or phishing page where victims will be scammed.
Coupon with no expiring date.
Every coupon has an expiration date as they don’t expect a coupon to be used every year over and over again. Therefore, any coupon without an expiring date or stating the expiring date should be ignored is most likely to be fake.
The incredibly short time.
Most fake coupons come within an extremely short time with no expiring date to quickly enforce users or customers to quickly click on them.
Error in bar codes of coupons
One of the legit ways of identifying fake coupons is an error bar code or missing and unclear bar codes. From figure 4.0, we can identify what a legit bar code should look like, anything different from this is a red flag.
Suspicious payment method
There are standard ways of paying for coupons that are generally acceptable around the globe. The moment the payment method is unclear, especially paying through bitcoin and blockchains, suspicious phishing links, and the likes, this shows the payment is not valid and the person is about to fall, victim. Payment should be clear and open, well instructive less suspicious.
CONCLUSION
In this article, the need to study and analyze the use of coupons and how fake coupons can be spotted has been discussed. Day in and day out, many are falling victim to coupon fraud which is why every individual needs to understand the basic concept of how to identify a fake coupon. From this article, we saw that beyond a fake coupon, there are different other ways of coupon fraud that were stated and discussed. This means that beyond knowing how to spot a fake coupon, users need to know how to prevent other means of coupon fraudulent techniques. From this article, it can be deduced that coupon fraud is an act that has come to stay and cannot be eradicated because as long as you can make it, then it can be faked. But definitely, coupon fraudulent acts can be reduced drastically by following the guiding principles this article laid down as mitigation techniques in spotting a fake coupon.
