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Sainsbury's shopper arrested for coupon fraud

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Guy Anker
Guy Anker
Deputy Editor & Head of Operations
26 September 2011

A woman has been cautioned by the police for fraudulently trying to use the same coupon – downloaded from MoneySavingExpert.com – multiple times at Sainsbury's.

She printed a Unilever coupon several times, using different names on each occasion, which got her £150 off her shopping at the supermarket in Wrexham.

But she was caught, arrested and cautioned on Friday.

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.

As we state in our supermarket coupons guide this is illegal.

Martin Lewis, MoneySavingExpert.com creator, says: "The golden rule when using coupons is never lie or deceive as you can get into trouble. 

"This isn't the first time I've heard of this type of issue. In the past, a whole troop of people used a code that was not intended for them and the company charged them back and threatened to add a default if it wasn't paid.  "While checking the terms and conditions is acceptable and pushing within the acceptable boundaries is fine, lying or misleading firms is fraud and we strongly caution against it." 

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