MSE News: Sainsbury's shopper arrested for coupon fraud

split_second

i used to work in a supermarket and some customers used to boast that some weekly magazines had more in coupons than the cover price, this was when supermarkets would take coupons for anything they sold, so of course the products in question were in every supermarket.

chattychappy

rickbonar wrote: »

So it isn't just a "pecuniary" advantage anymore then?

I find the new version harder to understand btw.

I disagree really because you have to look at case law (some very old) to determine exactly what is (and is not) a "pecuniary" advantage and whether there has been a deception. It was further held in Davies v Flackett (1972) that you cannot deceive a machine - another problem with growing automation. As a law student I remember memorising all kinds of stuff on the old act.

I think the new act is more widely drawn/generic and less prone to loopholes. Much better suited to the growing problem of white collar cime.

The old law still applies in some other common law jurisdictions.

macma

chattychappy I do not have your education however I still wouldn't take what wasn't mine.
I do not understand sneaking through loopholes ????

blue_monkey_2

madmuppet5 wrote: »

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

Course it is. Let's hope that Tesco and Unilever do not start sifting through more coupons else those of you on the Coupons board might also be getting your collars felt.

Let's be honest, it is actively encouraged over there to register endless email addresses to get coupons in different names. Also to switch off your routers for a few minutes to get a new IP address. Registering a false name on Facebook. And printing from different printers too. I have only just started using coupons and looking at the thread but I have seen people being told to do things like this, also to use different printers etc...

And despite what someone else has said, not everyone is doing it as I certainly have not and have only printed what I was allowed - more fool me some of you will probably say - but if we want them to continue then you have to abide by the rules they set.

Maybe the lady did all of the above and this led to her getting arrested last week.

And while some are saying 'why shouldn't we do it, it is not as bad as the bankers and MP's doing dishonest things' well, whatever happened to 2 wrongs do not make a right? You cannot sit tapping away and slagging them off for being dishonest when you are more than happy to do the same.

macma

again blue momkey hear hear the 2 wrongs thing.
truthfully i don't get the cheating thing I was raised with little but taught not to take what wasn't mine.- I haven't starved !

mixtrixx

"It is unclear exactly how she attempted the fraud but it is likely she used the self check-out as some tills allow shoppers to scan multiple vouchers, and deduct the relevant amount, even when not buying the product the voucher is designed for."

lol - if it's unclear, then is that not being slightly presumptuous in actually accusing her of fraud. It's quite obvious that there was a total lack of evidence to even make such claims stick up in court. As for one, if she did use multiple email accounts to claim the vouchers, then, there would be the hassle of actually obtain information from Web Based Email providers in order to locate the accused offenders ISP - Then, it would still require obtaining information that would clearly show that all accounts were created by the same sole individual.

Sounds like to much hassle to even consider giving someone any more then a caution for.

Sounds more like Sainsbury's became a victim of their own system by not being arsed to spend the little extra time and money in order to create scannable barcodes that actually de-activate themselves once it has been scanned.

Imagine Sainsbury's offering a printable online voucher on Facebook reaching an audience of over 750+ Million People, but due to this, all barcodes would not be unique. So not only can anyone download and use the voucher, but anyone could download and use the voucher multiple times due to Sainsbury's seeing it as a cost effect way of advertising, rather then taking time to ensure each voucher downloaded had a unique barcode.

You only have to look at the mass amount of cockup's made on Facebook due to Tesco's offering deals, with little planning or organisation just because they have a large audience waiting to overload the site and postpone the offer as the Coupon Printing Machine could not cope lol.

madmuppet5

blue_monkey wrote: »

Course it is. Let's hope that Tesco and Unilever do not start sifting through more coupons else those of you on the Coupons board might also be getting your collars felt.

Let's be honest, it is actively encouraged over there to register endless email addresses to get coupons in different names. Also to switch off your routers for a few minutes to get a new IP address. Registering a false name on Facebook. And printing from different printers too. I have only just started using coupons and looking at the thread but I have seen people being told to do things like this, also to use different printers etc...

And despite what someone else has said, not everyone is doing it as I certainly have not and have only printed what I was allowed - more fool me some of you will probably say - but if we want them to continue then you have to abide by the rules they set.

Maybe the lady did all of the above and this led to her getting arrested last week.

And while some are saying 'why shouldn't we do it, it is not as bad as the bankers and MP's doing dishonest things' well, whatever happened to 2 wrongs do not make a right? You cannot sit tapping away and slagging them off for being dishonest when you are more than happy to do the same.

By your own admission, you have only started using coupons. Tesco has a different set of criteria for coupon acceptance to that of Sainsburys. Some coupons stipulate...one per email address. Therefore, you could print over and over legitamitely. Other coupons come in the form of a pdf file with no more conditions set against it other than "must be used only against this product" etc. Again, allowing you to print without breaking their t's & c's
Personally, I don't think I printed the unilever coupon but did the Spam one a couple of times;) If I did this fraudulently (unknowingly) and they want to "feel my collar" then tough! I've already eaten the evidence:D
Assumptions are being made as to how this lady committed fraud. Personally, I couldn't imagine her standing in the self service queue with £150 worth of stock, self scanning her coupons and trying to stuff her coupons in one machine.
If you read the coupon thread, with monotonous regularity "newbies" are reminded about supermarkets policies and not to copy coupons etc
Unfortunately, what has been happening of late is that any new coupon finds are being copied and posted on the grabbit forum. This is where I believe the mis-use stems from.

JimmyTheWig

madmuppet5 wrote: »

Some coupons stipulate...one per email address. Therefore, you could print over and over legitamitely. Other coupons come in the form of a pdf file with no more conditions set against it other than "must be used only against this product" etc. Again, allowing you to print without breaking their t's & c's

In which case you'd have no need to use different printers / change IP addresses, etc.
And you'd have no problem in telling the staff exactly what you were doing when you paid with the coupons.
Then there could be no possibility of fraud as you aren't deceiving anyone.

Is this what you think the woman in question did? Or do you think that she tried to deceive someone?

madmuppet5

JimmyTheWig wrote: »

In which case you'd have no need to use different printers / change IP addresses, etc.
And you'd have no problem in telling the staff exactly what you were doing when you paid with the coupons.
Then there could be no possibility of fraud as you aren't deceiving anyone.

Is this what you think the woman in question did? Or do you think that she tried to deceive someone?

Dunno:cool:


HTH

European_Citizen

I can't believe that so many people can be so harsh on this woman without knowing all the facts. OK, based on the info we have what she did was wrong but I think many are over-reacting. I wonder why there is not so much hatred against the supermarkets which try to cheat us all the time. Somehow their misleading offers and overcharging practices are seen as 'mistakes' that can be rectified. I do not call the police every time I discover that I have been charged the full price for a discounted product. Couldn't the matter have been resolved differently, i.e. by contacting the woman and asking her to pay back or whatever?
And before someone argues that what she did was deliberate while the supermarkets' scams are not: mistakes can happen but most things are well-planned.