How to spot a fake coupon

I have some great post ideas but it seems that the Budget Savvy Diva always beats me to it!  But that's okay - because she's nice enough to share with us!

Here is some great information on how to spot a fake coupon!

I cannot stress enough about where you get your printable coupon information — I know someone who used a "fake" coupon from another deal site and was caught and fine the $2,500, even though they didn't know at the time that it was a fake!

How to Make Sure You Are NOT USING A FAKE COUPON

- Know where you are getting the information: There are a large amount of bloggers who do not put the amount of work in necessary to bring you legitimate information and YOU could be paying the price.  I have a list of great bloggers listed in the sidebar who are trustworthy.  Make sure you can trust your sources!

The deal is too good to be true: If there is a coupon for a free product for very high value coupon like $3.00 off a bag of chips this is a huge red flag.

- The expiration date: Remember the better the coupon ( High value coupons or coupons that have no size limit) have a shorter time it is good for. So if a printable coupon has more then 6 months till its expiration date - RED FLAG

The coupon is a pdf: PDFs are VERY easy to manipulate -- this is another red flag. Again not all PDF coupons are fake but still be wary.

The coupon has no expiration date: Fake coupon can be spotted sometimes without having an expiration date - makes sense the person who made the fake coupon wants to use it as long as possible. THERE are companies that forget or do not put a expiration coupon - but you usually get these sort of coupons from the company themselves.

The coupon did not have a UPC code - HUGE RED FLAG - If there is no UPC it cannot be traced

- Coupon is a Brick Coupon: This one is tricky... A brick coupon is a coupon that is the only one you can print. There are many legitimate brick coupons out there - this is a yellowish flag - just use the tools I have written about in this post to help you determine it is a fake coupon or not

Here is an example for YOU - Lets see if you are able to see how this coupon below is fake

The real coupon was changed into a fake coupon by someone who wanted free products - this is what usually happens with fake coupons.

Hope this helps you be able to target fake coupons!

Thanks! WalletPop and ABC News