ALERT: $2/2 Johnson & Johnson Counterfeit Coupon
First off, I am literally sick to my stomach. Just a little bit ago, I received an email from an awesome reader, Kristen, who alerted me to the fact that the $2/2 Johnson & Johnson coupon pictured above is counterfeit. This coupon actually had bricks.com in the URL and appeared to me to be 100% legitimate; and as a result, I have referenced the coupon on Hip2Save several times in the past few weeks and have printed it myself. The Coupon Information Corporation (CIC) just added this coupon to its list of counterfeit coupons as of yesterday, April 15th.
Now that you are likely sick to your stomach as well, you are probably wondering what you should do if you already unintentionally used this coupon at a store and/or have this coupon in your possession?! First and foremost, you want to immediately destroy any of these coupons that you may have. If you used the coupons to purchase items that are still in un-opened packages, I highly encourage you to take the items back to your store and return them immediately. (Please note that I mean that you should return the items and only be reimbursed for the purchase price minus the coupon amount so in some cases you may not be reimbursed at all if the item was free after the coupon). Stores that accepted these coupons will NOT be reimbursed by the manufacturer so by returning the items that you purchased with this coupon, you are preventing the store from losing money. If you have already opened/used the items purchased with this coupon, I am honestly not sure what to advise you to do; however, I would encourage you to contact your local store manager and ask him/her what is recommended in this situation.
From the bottom of my heart, I am so sorry. I spend countless hours researching deals and evaluating coupons to ensure that all deals on Hip2Save are 100% legitimate. I value all of your trust and am still in shock that this was a fake coupon.
Please feel free to share your thoughts below….
IT HAPPENS TO EVERYONE.. ONE OF MY LOCAL GROCERY STORES WILL NOT TAKE ANY COUPONS OFF THE INTERENT, BECAUSE OF SOME MANY FAKE ONES.. LET IT GO, AND KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK. THANKS
Go to the CIC website, it encourages everyone NOT to buy coupons!!! Hmmm, makes you think……
What’s to think about? Nobody should be paying for printables, and I think clipping services are a gray area at best.
Agreed. I don’t think people who buy coupons from inserts will ever get into trouble but people who sell them might eventually.
Oh my Gosh I still have these coupon and just mentioned to a friend last night I needed to get them used. I will definitely tear them up. I would feel awful had I used them and caused a store to lose money. I would never want to commit coupon fraud. Thanks for posting this Collin.
I just used this coupon on Friday and the cashier said it was adding $2.00 to my order then she manually deducted the coupon from my order. I will go back to Target and pay them.
Same thing happened to me. But I just now realized that since it added $2 to my bill and then customer service took off that $2, that means I still paid $1.84 for 2 travel size Bandaids, since CS only gave me back the amount that was wrongly added, not the amount that I actually paid. So Target isnt out any money from me using the coupon. I’ll be taking the Bandaids back and getting a refund.
Double check your receipt if you still have them. At Target the girl had to key the coupon in but instead of taking the coupon amount off it added it on at the bottom as a manual key in. Just something to keep an eye on.
Oh my gosh! I knew something was wrong when it charged me $2 for this coupon… I feel so terrible about using these and will be returning the items to my Target today. Thanks so much for the heads up, Collin!
Wow. Don’t beat yourself up about it, Collin! We’re in this together and none of us would intentionally rip off our stores. I actually tried to use this at CVS a week or two ago and it beeped and the manager said “it’s not recognized”, whatever that meant at that time, and didn’t push it thru. Good for her. (It DID cause one of those mid-check-out panic attacks you wrote so well about: having to rethink the plan with 10 people in line behind me…madly going thru other coupons, desperate to make my limits! Ugh.)
I have 2 of them i almost used a few different times and never did, I’ll rip them up. I don’t get why someone would put fake coupons out there.
this is so stange because when I validate them at https://www.couponsinc.com/crc/index.asp it says they are good.. even the one in the pic…
The legitimate coupon does not include band-aides or neosporin. Someone must have added those two items.
“Save $2.00 on any Two (2) LISTERINE® Antiseptic Mouthwash;
Description: or STAYFREE® or CAREFREE® item (except 20ct and 22ct. sizes); or any ZYRTEC®; or any AVEENO® “
It’s okay…it was an honest mistake. I never got theseor heard of these. So, you may have caught it early and are doing the manufacturer a big favor. Good for you.
Even the best of us goof up. It’s not like you did it on purpose, or meant to deceive. You work very hard to help others find great deals and save some much needed money. Don’t be too hard on yourself, although I know that it sucks big time. Thank you for all the hard work that you do. I’ll be contacting my local Kroger ( where I used it ) to find out what I should do. Thanks for the suggestions on what to do as well 🙂
Oh no! I was hesitant to use these since I know people had issues with these, but wound up using 4 of them with my rain check on the $1 Listerine at CVS last week. I can’t find my receipt, but I’ll be calling the manger later today and see what he’d like me to do. 🙁 Thank you for telling us Collin.
I called my favorite CVS manager this morning and gave him a heads up. My CVS is SOOOOO coupon friendly! He says I am his favorite couponer and even gave me a 25% discount on each pillow pet I bought for my kids easter baskets. With my ECB’s I was able to buy three for under $10!! Yay!
You are so lucky! The manager at my CVS is very rude to me. Once he missed one of my coupons & when I politely pointed it out he said “God forbid you should lose out on $1.”
What a jerk!
This is why I don’t shop at CVS. They have some of the rudest clerks I have ever encountered. They act like you are stealing from the store if you present a coupon. On the flip side, Target is absolutely wonderful!!! I have never once been questioned about using a Target coupon with a manufacturer coupon. In my book, it is not worth the hassle going to CVS or Walgreens.
It varies from store to store for me with CVS, but it also depends on what day I go. Luckily, I have five within a ten mile radius. I have one CVS that I always go to on Thurs or Sat because the staff is awesome on those days. One cashier often says funny things like “Oooh, I see you’re getting some extra care bucks on again!” and there’s another who gets excited when I “break even” or pay a couple bucks for $40 worth of stuff. The thing I like about CVS is their software is so good that coupons rarely ever beep if you are using them correctly. I have never, ever had a coupon beep at me at CVS. Unlike, say, Meijer, where valid coupons used properly beep all the time because of their coding system.
Wow, that stinks that yours are so rude. All 3 of my nearby CVS locations have always been nothing but nice to me. I love CVS..
Target is where I have all my problems with using coupons..lol
Odd, I’ve had nothing but problems at Target and love all the CVSs around here.
Almost forgot Hipsters. Redplum has some great coupons this morning! The $3 off Nivea Mens & Womens if there!!
I printed this coupon, but when I tried to use it at CVS they said it wouldn’t scan, and therefore I could not use it. I used a different coupon aside and never ended up trying the coupon anywhere else. Thanks for letting us know. I have at least 4 and will rip them up today!
I never even knew there was a website that lists counterfeit coupons. Thanks so much for that information, as well as your diligence!
I always have found these type of Q’s to be quite weird and they make me uncomfortable. I did print but never used. It just seems like such an odd combo of items, even though they may be from the same company. Thanks Collin for all u do- this was an honest mistake,we all make em! There is bound to be a bump in the road every once in awhile 🙂
Ditto.
Thank you! I had two and I ripped them up.
Just tossed mine out! Thank you Colin!
OMG, I was just about to use these today at CVS. It’s a good thing I held onto this coupon for WEEKS instead of automatically using it when it released a month ago! Thanks for informing us or else….wow. Shaking my head in disgust at the person who created this coupon.
Glad I did not use them, just trashed them away!
How can this be a fake coupon when you can go right now to coupons.com and print it. I have 4 of these and also went to https://www.couponsinc.com/crc/index.asp and checked each one and it says there valid so if they are fake then only person/party that should be responsible is coupons.com
the more i look at this i think everyone is looking at this wrong its more then likely the person photo copied a valid coupon and its just that one coupon that is not authorized since it was already used having the verifi code of 0109-1045-2271-2801 and the other 10 billion or whatever printed are perfectly valid
I think you are onto something!
I checked mine, and it said valid, but the UPC code on my coupon was different than the listed UPC at the coupon resource center. Maybe that’s the problem.
I printed this coupon! This is the reason it’s going to get tough to use internet coupons at stores! Someone is ruining a good thing! What a shame!
Thanks for posting b/c I was gonna use them today at Rite Aid. It was not your fault!! Thanks for all you do!
you might still be able to. Go to the website someone listed above and check your copies. My copy if completely valid so I plan to still use it.
Colin, I just want to say I love the advice you are giving out in this situation. It is not always easy for people to be honest and that is exactly what you are promoting. The definition of honesty that we have given our children is “being truthful in all we say and do”. What a great role model you are being not only for your young children, but for fellow couponers as well. Thank you.
Thank you for the heads up, Colin for your post and great advice! Luckily I had not used mine yet but I’m sure I would have before the end of the month.
My question is how can a fake coupon print as a brick coupon? It makes me wonder if they just did not get it wrong and its a legitimate coupon. I’m hoping brick will look into whats happened with this particular coupon . I love being able to print coupons online but if stores begin to question more and more online coupons (and with good reason) we hand across the checkout to the cashier..will their policies become even more restrictive? And really How can any of us really know for sure what coupon is real and which ones are not?
All copies of this coupon are NOT counterfit. It looks like someone tried to use the one above over again. I just checked my last copy of the coupon at the link someone posted above and it is valid. Please, please check your coupons before you tear them up!
But the thing is, if retailers got the FYI about the counterfeit coupon, they’re not going to take the risk. They can’t jump on the internet and check each coupon that comes in to see if it’s the good one or the bad one…they’re going to turn the coupon away. I’ve instructed my cashiers to do just that, and told customers that there are more than likely legit ones out there but there is also a counterfeit circling and I’m not taking the risk. Aside from that, when scanning the coupons (I’ve scanned numerous) they charge you $2 instead of taking off $2 like a coupon should.
I did use this coupon at a commissary 2 days ago. I was fully prepared to return the items, but can’t find my receipt. When I called them this morning to see what I should do, they told me there is nothing they can do because the coupons are sent out of the commissary every day.
Thanks for the info. I was just noticing yesterday that I hadn’t used these yet and needed to…now I will destroy them! Don’t worry Collin, you didn’t knowingly attempt to do fraud and now you are correcting it and helping all of us correct it also. I love that you told everyone what to do with the products they got with the coupons. You are so dedicated and conscientious.
I posted this on my site about 3 weeks ago or more because of a situation I had a CVS the manager there tells me when there are bad coupons come through and I try to inform my readers when she lets me know of new ones out there..this is very sad https://clippin4acause.blogspot.com/2011/03/fraudulent-coupon-alert.html
I really don’t think we printed a bogus coupon since it is a Bricks. I think some butthead had a valid coupon and then made a bunch of copies which is illegal of course. It would make sense that an alert would be sent out about this coupon in general rather than say “Just the ones with certain pin codes.” since that would be a huge hassle for everyone. If you used this coupon already I wouldn’t sweat it but if not it won’t be accepted.
I agree 100%. This is also what happened recently with a coupon from a grocery store in my area. The original coupon came from a booklet put out by the store. Then some idiot copied it, and started causing problems. I think this is a similar situation. Don’t worry Collin, you did nothing wrong. And we all adore you!!
I have used a similar one in the past – a long time ago – but where did this particular one come from? Was it on coupons.com? How did somebody put it on the internet???
mine said coupons.com and it verified when I went to the site. Kind of confused! 🙂 When I used one a few weeks back, it did add $2 to my bill then the cashier took it off but if it says it is valid..is it??
I think a big clue here is the coupon is adding $2.00 to your total rather than taking it off. Maybe that is why they pulling it and saying it is counterfeit. I new to couponing but seems to me the only way to get it out of circulation now that it is out there is to say it is counterfeit to avoid the problems with it adding the $2.00. But it sure good to know so we can avoid and issue at the checkout.
Not for me..it took off my order.
Thanks for the update.
After reading ALL the comments, I’m gonna guess that this was a store coupon, meant to be used at one chain. Somehow the coupon site messed up, and it got put on the site for everyone to print – or the link being passed around is the one from the store email. I think that’s why it’s adding $2 for some people – the bar code is the same as one some stores have in their systems, but not for the original store. I think the reason they’ve declared it counterfeit is because it was not meant for national distribution.
I think we may be overreacting… I remember printing this thru a bricks link. Both coupons have separate “veri-fi” numbers and when I verified the two codes here: https://www.couponsinc.com/crc/index.asp it says the coupons are valid and match the date printed on the coupon. I have not tried to use this coupon so I can’t comment on if $2 was ADDED to orders but this looks to be valid to me.
Strange thing… if you type in the coupon code on this site with dashes then coupons come back as invalid. If you type the code exactly as shown with spaces between the number combinations or the numbers all together then the coupon is valid with everything matching… Strange.
I mean isnt it obvious, why would you add dashes to the numbers, just write it as your coupon has it.
How odd… I just went back to the original link to see how all the readers (inc myself) could have missed it, and it’s looks 100% legit… it wont even let you print more than 2, (if it had that would have raised an eyebrow)…
Dont beat youself over it… it happens.
WOW. This breaks my heart! I used this coupon no problem several weeks ago. I’m most positive the products I bought are open..no idea what to do 🙁 This is crazy because it seemed so legit!
This is just awful!! The person who did this is so unbelievably sick!!! Now I have to go back and explain the situation and return the product. Why?! I mean come on how can somebody do this…….
Just curious . . . anyone who still has the coupon in your possession, how does it compare to the picture? Some comments have said the border or product description is different? I do not have this coupon and cannot compare myself. This is sort of like a mystery.
i still have 2 of these coupons and they EXACTLY like the ones in the picture EXCEPT for the barcode and verification code. i’m not sure what to think because i just went and verified that mine is ok, but i don’t want to use it if i shouldn’t! 🙁
AL: I had the same problem!!! Veri-fi.com said that my coupons were valid! But the description of what the $2.00 off is for is different! On the Veri-Fi website, it says
“Summary Save $2.00 on any Two (2) LISTERINE® Antiseptic Mouthwash;
Description: or STAYFREE® or CAREFREE® item (except 20ct and 22ct. sizes); or any ZYRTEC®; or any AVEENO® ”
However, my coupon says,
“Save $2.00 on any TWO (2) Listerine Anitseptic Mouthwash, Stayfree, Carefree, Zyrtec, Aveeno, Band-Aid Brand Adhesive Badages, or Neosporin products”
I’m a little unsure of what to do right now, so I’m just gonna keep it until I’m sure. If I don’t find out anything by tonight, I’m gonna destroy it.
i’ve just decided to keep them for a while and not use them unless i’m sure i’m not doing anything wrong!! i didn’t buy them from somone or anything like that i just printed them!
I’m not sure I believe this was a counterfeit coupon prior to the date the CIC announced it was counterfeit. I don’t see how you could bring up a link for a Bricks q and it be counterfeit. Seriously, of all coupon companies, Bricks?! I have seen $2/2 coupons for these products before, so it would not be out of the ordinary for an offer of one. I didn’t utilize the q myself, so I guess it’s not a moral or ethical issue for me. But, I’m not sure it was truly illegal before the counterfeit announcement was made. How long was it available for print before they claimed it to be so? My guess is too many were allowed to be printed and the company only approved so many or there is something in the verbage of the coupon which would allow a customer to use it in a way not intended by the manufacturer. So now, the only way to eliminate the usage would be to claim it counterfeit.
Like Collin said, she has referenced this coupon more than once over the past several weeks. Does it always take that long for a company the size of Bricks and J & J to realize it has been issued? When Facebook posted counterfeits, it was a matter of 48 hours or less before a stop was put to their use. There seems to be something not quite right to me.
I used this coupon 2 weeks ago and I won’t returning them as I already opened and I didn’t get discount on them.
The casheir was a new guy just started that day. The coupon added $2.00 to my order and he didn’t catch it and I didn’t catch due to olay GC deal mess up in the same transaction. Now, I recalculated and in fact, I over paid them. Band-aid cost $1.94 for 2 and I was charged $2.00. I paid $0.06 more LOL
I am now afraid to use internet coupon though…
before i even started really couponing i always used internet coupons because i dint’ want to buy the newspaper. i never had a prob like this. i think it was just a fluke and if you get your coupons from reliable sources it happens RARELY.
Just read on another site the coupon itself is not counterfeit. However, it appears someone made copies of the coupon and has been selling and/or passing them around. Those are the counterfeit coupons!
that is exactly what i’m thinking. i still have two of these coupons and i verified that both of them were ok. but i’m still not sure if i should use them or not. So…. i’m just going to keep them on hand incase mine are ok, i don’t want ot throw them away till i’m 100% sure!
When a person prints out their own coupons and gives, sells or trades it with other people, someone else could make copies. The coupons have your computer identifiers on them and when they are cashed in, it brings up a red flag on the computer it was printed from. Bricks and SS can stop your computer from being able to print coupons if that happens. Don’t ever sell, trade or give your printed coupons to anyone you do not know.
“Not saying this has happened to you specifically, just saying this can happen.”
yeah that is true. i have NEVER bought or sold or shared coupons with anyone else but family members. 🙂 i think that all of this has been blown up like crazy because people arn’t thinking it through. i ‘think’ that since i havn’t traded or bought or anything else then mine must be ok. i printed them on my own computer off a safe website so i am going to keep them till i’m sure that i shouldn’t keep them.
That has to be what is happening, because I used 3 last night at CVS with no problem, and the other 2 I have left say “valid” when I go to the veri-fi site. I think this is being blown way out of proportion. I am throwing my last 2 away though, just to avoid any issues.
that’s what i’m wondering if just some arn’t real. i verified and mine was ok. i’m going to keep mine on hand and just see what comes about with all this, But i won’t use mine till i know for sure it’s ok!
don`t beat yourself up!! we still trust you… ! 🙂
I read about this on another site and that blogger reported that the fraudulent copy of this coupon is because someone printed it and then made a bunch of copies of that one coupon and then sold it on ebay. She reports that if the coupon is printed legitimately from the bricks site it is a good copy. You can go to verifi.com to check your copy to be sure it is legit before tearing it up. Hopefully that person will be caught because these printed coupons can be traced back to the printer.
Thats what Im thinking too. I checked mine too thru the veri-fied site and they are all good. Why do some greedy people have to try and ruin it all for the rest of us?
From Southern Savers:
Yes the $2/2 Listerine, Aveeno, Carefree… printable coupon was placed on the CIC Fraudulent coupon list. Please be aware that it is NOT the actual printable coupon that is fraudulent but that one copy of it.
Someone made hundreds of copies of this coupon and has been using and selling them online.
The coupon is actually still available to print from the coupons.com bricks system and should be redeemed without any issues. If you did buy them online though check to make sure you don’t have a fraudulent version. You can verify any coupon buy entering it into Veri-fi.com. I just printed one this morning and checked it’s code to find that it was legitimate.
Should you do anything??
You have two options:
1. Use the coupon as planned if it was printed correctly and not a copy.
2. Go ahead and tear up the coupon and find a different one to use (there are tons of coupons available for all of these products).
Know that many stores will start to refuse this completely thanks to this posted alert.
I dont think its fake either… I originally got this coupon emailed to me through Albertsons, which is where I think the original link came from and it just got passed aroound!! (They send a coupon every Thursday). I think its just that someone photo copied it lots of times!!
yes for it to be fake they would have to have hacked bricks system, it is just the one that there is a picture of
Please don’t feel bad. I think we all do what we can to play by the rules. It’s hard when there isnt really a centralized source for info… The CIC is as close as it gets. It would be helpful if consumers, or more importantly coupon bloggers, could get on the CICs mailing list of “alerts” like fraudulent coupons or trends to be on alert for. Boy, couponers are really taking it in the teeth lately! Between the Extreme Couponing shows and fraudulent coupons I really worry about stores restricting coupon useage and cashiers feeling justified thinking that couponers are just trying to get something for nothing instead of seeing us as good consumers. I applaud everyone who returns their items to the stores… It speaks well for all of us as a group.
It’s not your fault Collin, anyone could make that mistake! We love you and all you do for all of us Hip2Save readers! You’re awesome so don’t let it get you down!