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Commissary shoppers love to save money using military coupons. You can find military coupons at your commissary. I like to look for those free flyers just inside the front door or ask my commissary bagger to tuck one into my groceries, when she has them.
As we’ve said before the best military coupons are the ones that you don’t clip. There are plenty of military coupons online, ready for commissary shoppers.
But for every military coupon that you find online there may be a fake coupon looking to leer you in.
Fake coupons are on the rise. Smart commissary shoppers need to know how to spot a fake military coupon. Here are 3 things you need to know when trying to figure if your military coupon is real or fake.
No Expiration Date
Every coupon, digital or paper, will have an expiration date. There are no exceptions to this rule. If you e-clip a coupon that doesn’t have an expiration date, it’s a fake. Don’t try to use it at your commissary.
Pro-tip: Always look for an expiration date before printing out a coupon.
Photocopied Coupons
These fake military coupons are easy to spot. If a coupon has been photocopied, it is no longer valid. You can’t photocopy a coupon for your mother, sister and your five closest friends and expect them to be able to use it. Photocopying a coupon is against coupon rules.
Pro-tip: Only print military coupons from authorized coupon distributors like Coupons.com.
Too Good to Be True Coupons
Let’s say you’re scrolling on Facebook and you see a “too good to be true” military coupon in your newsfeed. Since you are tempted, you click on this coupon and it brings you to different website, one that requires that you put in your credit card information in order to receive this offer.
Don’t do it.
This website is a scam trying to steal your personal information. Never give you Social Security number, bank information or credit card number to redeem a coupon.
What’s an example of this type of fake coupon?
Late last year, the grocery store Kroger warned its shoppers about a fake coupon claiming to offer a “FREE $60 Kroger Coupon” with a $70 minimum purchase. It said the expiration date was 12/31/2016.
Kroger posted a photo of the fake coupon on its Facebook page with this message.
“Fake coupon alert! There’s currently an unauthorized ‘FREE $60 Kroger Coupon’ offer floating around. It’s not real! We don’t recommend engaging with the site(s) that offer links to the coupon, or providing them with any personal information. Our team is actively working with Facebook and domain service providers to address the concern.”
Similar fake coupons have been circulating for Kohl’s, Disneyland and Food Lion.
Here’s another scenario that has been happening a lot with fake online coupons. Again you see that “amazing deal” while scrolling on social media. But this time when you click on the link for more details or to redeem the offer, you download malware on your computer.
The Coupon Information Center has a database of fake coupons. You can search for a specific coupon on this website or review the list. I recommend reviewing this list if you’re an active digital coupon user.
Pro-tip: To test a coupon, do a Google search with the coupon’s offer and the word “scam” or “fraud” in the search bar.
Thank you for your comments, always very helpful.