MSE News: Sainsbury's shopper arrested for coupon fraud

Yasmina

myalphabetgirls wrote: »

The article also says she used different names - well haven't we all done that too.

No. We haven't.

I would genuinely have the fear of God in me if I pulled a stunt like using different names and creating fake personas just to get 10% off my food shopping, or whatnot.

Maybe this will make people think twice before cheating the system.

absoluteutopia

All over this forum members advise and promote fraud so hardly a surprise

cestlavie

well i worry for the intelligence of the tesco fraudsters as described in dm article above. my tesco clubcard coupons have my name printed on them as well as my clubcard details so i'd have to be pretty thick to photocopy one voucher and not even conceive the possibility that tesco might find out by being able to track and identify me and my deception instantly.

pmcg01

Serves the woman right. Stopping her will ensure honest folk will not lose out on deals.

What I would say, though, is if it such fraud is on self scanning tills, then perhaps the supermarkets will value their staff at the tills more, and remove them.

European_Citizen

It seems to me that it's not that easy to cheat supermarkets with coupons. The self check-out at my local Tesco has a slot where you have to insert the coupon after you scan it; otherwise can't continue. I would not use a photocopy because sometimes you can't insert the coupon due to the slot being full so you have to request assistance at which point they would notice. Is it worth going though all that trouble for some 30 or 50p off? The whole shopping experience is already stressful enough: I end up doing more maths than I did in my math class!
Finally, I don't feel too sorry for the supermarkets, I am sure losses due to coupon misuse are included in the price of all products. I suppose both sides will do all they can get away with...

rdwarr

I'm sure that many people see "coupon fraud" as a far less serious crime than shoplifting. But the result is the same and the former is far more underhand.
If you think it's OK to misuse a coupon to obtain a product then why not just wander in and steal it?
Perhaps it's that the crime is the same but the chances of getting caught are less.

European_Citizen

@rdwarr

It's not the same as theft. Coupons usually entitle you to a discount from the full price so you end up paying for the product.
Are the supermarkets' misleading offers (e.g. 2 for £3 but £1 each) also a theft? You can say that customers should be careful when shopping; a lot of people are saying the same about coupons: supermarkets should ensure that they have the appropriate safeguards in place to prevent fraud.

blue_monkey_2

European_Citizen wrote: »

@rdwarr

It's not the same as theft. Coupons usually entitle you to a discount from the full price so you end up paying for the product.
Are the supermarkets' misleading offers (e.g. 2 for £3 but £1 each) also a theft? You can say that customers should be careful when shopping; a lot of people are saying the same about coupons: supermarkets should ensure that they have the appropriate safeguards in place to prevent fraud.

Only if they bill you £2 but take £3 from you - then it is theft.

The supermarkets put plenty of procedures in place to stop this happening, as did the manufacturer, and so this is why you was allowed to just have one coupon. You could not have used 20 in one transaction but she , no dount, went through the tills many times. She got greedy and must of changed her name at least 75 times to get more coupons than she, as an individual, was entitled to so the procedure would have been no good anyway - unless of course you want them to fingerprint each customer. However, their procedure worked somewhere along the way as she got caught!! She changed her name for gain so has committed fraud. It is the same as stealing in my eyes too.

Some people have no morals these days though and this is why this lady did, what she did. Likewise the others who see there is absolutely no wrong in it.

And as for the people who used the clubcard voucher 62 times, well they deserved to get caught for being so thick - thinking that it was not registering their details!! They might well have got fined less than they stole but if one of them had a job that required a CRB, they have probably lost their jobs as well. Likewise any interviews in the future they will have to declare a criminal record and it will limit overseas travel to some countries. They will also have had their names splashed across local papers so everyone knows who they are and how greedy they were.

macma

hear hear blue_monkey
stealing is stealing that is taking what is not yours.
I think you either steal or you don't and dressing it up it's still stealing !
I think these people are ruining things for folk just trying to save a bit,I love all the deals a special offers and freebies posted on this site and it's a pity when people spoil it.

madmuppet5

blue_monkey wrote: »

Only if they bill you £2 but take £3 from you - then it is theft.

The supermarkets put plenty of procedures in place to stop this happening, as did the manufacturer, and so this is why you was allowed to just have one coupon. You could not have used 20 in one transaction but she , no dount, went through the tills many times. She got greedy and must of changed her name at least 75 times to get more coupons than she, as an individual, was entitled to so the procedure would have been no good anyway - unless of course you want them to fingerprint each customer. However, their procedure worked somewhere along the way as she got caught!! She changed her name for gain so has committed fraud. It is the same as stealing in my eyes too.

Some people have no morals these days though and this is why this lady did, what she did. Likewise the others who see there is absolutely no wrong in it.

And as for the people who used the clubcard voucher 62 times, well they deserved to get caught for being so thick - thinking that it was not registering their details!! They might well have got fined less than they stole but if one of them had a job that required a CRB, they have probably lost their jobs as well. Likewise any interviews in the future they will have to declare a criminal record and it will limit overseas travel to some countries. They will also have had their names splashed across local papers so everyone knows who they are and how greedy they were.

Sorry,,,,,,but.....this has got to be the biggest load of tosh I've ever heard:D