Pages

Showing posts with label fraudulent coupons. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fraudulent coupons. Show all posts

Saturday, May 29, 2010

Fraudulent Doritos Coupon

I recently made a post about the free Doritos coupon but am posting it again because it is still floating around.

Here is info that I copied from the Frito Lay site about the free Doritos Coupon. If you receive this coupon via email, it IS a fraudulent coupon and you should NOT use it!

I only promote honest couponing...yes it is fun to get free stuff...but if you are doing it dishonestly, is it really worth it??...for a bag of chips? If you know that this coupon is a fraud and continue to use it, you are being dishonest to yourself and others. Please make a choice to be honest!

Directly from the Frito Lay site:

Q. Is this $5 Doritos Coupon valid?

A. No. The $5 Doritos coupon that is being spread throughout the internet is counterfeit. It was not created, authorized or distributed by Frito-Lay. We are taking steps to notify our retail customers about the fraudulent coupon and to identify its source. You should not knowingly use a counterfeit coupon. We sincerely apologize for the disappointment and confusion this has caused. Please watch for valid coupons and sales in stores, magazines, Sunday newspaper ads, and on our official websites. Below is a copy of the fraudulent coupon.



FRAUD ALERT: Frito Marketing Research Company
We recently learned of a mail fraud scam that is falsely using the Frito-Lay name and logo. It claims that individuals have been selected as paid Mystery Shoppers for a consumer research program. As part of the scam, consumers are sent a check bearing the Frito-Lay logo for thousands of dollars and instructed to deposit the check into their bank accounts. Consumers are then instructed to spend hundreds of dollars shopping at selected retail stores and required to send a large payment to the research company. This offer is currently being mailed to some consumers’ homes and we want the public to be aware that Frito-Lay did not initiate, nor does it sponsor or guarantee this activity. The purported check is not backed by Frito-Lay and to the best of our knowledge, it has no value. Please do not respond to these solicitation letters or attempt to cash these fraudulent checks. If you receive a mailing of this nature, we ask that you forward it to us at Frito-Lay Consumer Affairs, PO Box 660634, Dallas, TX 75266-0634. Thanks for giving us the chance to clarify the situation, and we encourage you to share this information with anyone whom you think may have received this mailing, so that they are not victimized by this fraud. We regret any inconvenience or concern.

Thanks for the link Steph B.!

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Fraudulent Coupons

I received this comment from a reader:

FYI-there is a fraudulent coupon out there for free Doritos. I guess it's printing out with the other coupons you actually choose (not sure which site though.) My grandma printed some and gave them to me but Meijer said they're fake.

Please be aware that there is a "coupon" out there for free Doritos circulating around...I received one myself via email a week or so ago. I've not heard of it happening in the way mentioned above. So maybe it's circulating around in a couple of different ways?? The one I received was in a pdf file and had several of the "coupons" on one page.

If you question a coupon's validity, you can try checking this site. They have a list of fraudulent coupons that is continuously updated.

I usually question a coupon...
WHEN it is sent to me via email
WHEN a coupon is in pdf format
WHEN it seems too good to be true
WHEN I have no idea where it originated from
WHEN it cannot be linked to a legitimate source

If you receive a coupon that you believe to be fraudulent, throw it away immediately. Please do not use these coupons or forward them on to others.

If you unknowingly try to use one of these coupons (or maybe already have), please know that you're not doing anything wrong...it only becomes wrong when you KNOW that it is invalid and are trying to get away with something.

On a side note, I've noticed that the stores are starting to really look at internet printable coupons more closely and question them more than they did before. When this happens, please be kind to your cashier. They are only doing their job...and I'm sure they'd like to keep it!

For a related post about honesty in couponing, read here.