In April, coupon shoppers from around the country worked together to expose apparent coupon fraud on an episode of TLC’s “Extreme Couponing,” in which shopper Jamie Kirlew appeared to use coupons for products that she did not buy.
In an interview with the Wall Street Journal today, Jaime Kirlew admits she did indeed use coupons in a fraudulent manner on the show:
You matched barcodes, as long as they worked, rather than products, right?
Yes.
Do you believe that was the right thing to do?
Yes, I believe that I have done nothing wrong. I’ve even had managers take my purchase and check me out. They’ve told me, “If the coupon goes through at my register, I’m getting reimbursed for it.” I have never been approached by anyone in authority telling me to do something different.
Will you change your methods now that manufacturers are changing the barcode system?
I do not intend to change my shopping habits unless or until the code changes…
What do you want from this interview?
I want to stop being the Scapegoat. I used a Buddig Deli cut for a 12/16 ounce packet for a 2 ounce packet because the numbers matched. The coupons went through at the register and I did not have any problem.
5/12/11 Update: Buddig Meats responds. Via their Facebook Wall, Buddig is asking fans for their responses to Jaime’s statement about using their 1lb. Deli Cuts coupon on the 2-ounce Original Buddig lunchmeats.
rockandrollallnite says
If coupon fraud is a prosecutable crime she just admitted to it. It will be very interesting to see what happens now with the police and Coupon Information Company who prosecutes fraud. If they do nothing to her we will all know that coupon fraud really cannot ever be prosecuted because they have video evidence and a confession from her too, what more evidence could they need? She is a textbook case just begging to be arrested and now they could really have intent to defraud as a charge, she told it to one of the biggest papers in the country.
cindylane says
Thanks to Jaime and the show Extreme Couponing, when I use coupons at WalMart now, I (as the people in line behind me) have to wait as the cashier carefully examines each coupon I’m using and physically checks the products I’m buying to make sure that I am correctly using each coupon. This has happened on my last two visits to WalMart (two different cashiers). Very annoying and a waste of my time.
cg1 says
Somewhat related to this but covers a lot of other couponing topics as well.
https://www.chicagoshopping.com/deals/frugalista/chicago-shopping-coupon-fraud-interview-with-coupon-information-corp,0,3526617,full.story
J.R. says
They did NOT “go through”.
The cashier overrode the rejection and forced them to be accepted.
Fraud.
Brian N says
I don’t condone what J’aime did, she clearly admitted to using a coupon on a size product that the text said it shouldn’t be used on. HOWEVER, I do think the manufacturers have to get better about what they print on the coupon. They are creating some of the havoc out there with cashiers. I know it is a limited space but the coupons are often not clear about what products they are good on or what sizes. This is particularly true with printables.
For example, on ConAgra’s website it says “Save $1 on any Two (2) Healthy Choice or Marie Callender’s Fresh Mixers”. You click through and print the coupon and it has a picture of a Health Choice product. The text of the coupon says only “Save $1 on any two (2) Fresh Mixers”.
So I can clearly tell that ConAgra intended me to use it on either Health Choice or Marie Callender. However, the cashier can look at the coupon or the text and say it shouldn’t be used on Marie Callender and I can’t blame them.
I think this type of confusion then leads to people saying, “Well let me decode the barcode to see what it will scan on”. It would be a lot easier if the coupon had more details and we could all just read the english.
Coupon Maven says
I added a link above in the original story – Buddig Meats is asking fans, via its Facebook Wall, for their reaction to Jaime’s statement.
avenger says
Look at this link: https://www.fmi.org/forms/meeting/MeetingFormPublic/view?id=6DD0200000544
It is an industry event for the Food Marketing Institute which is having an “Internal Audit Conference” next week, an industry event for stores to learn how to protect themselves from loss.
Check out one of the keynote topics:
PROTECT YOUR BOTTOM LINE FROM COUNTERFEIT COUPONS AND EXTREME COUPONING
Reduce your exposure to counterfeit coupons through partnership opportunities, technology and training. Hear the latest coupon fraud schemes and the measures being undertaken to address this growing problem.
Nancy Lindemood, President, Coupon Information Corporation and Associate Director, Procter & Gamble Distributing Company
**********
That’s Procter & Gamble leading that. When the industry is specifically saying “Protect your bottom line from Extreme Couponing” mentioning Extreme Couponing by name, anyone who does not think the industry is going to fight back? Hello, they are meeting about this next week.
tko0551 says
You are making it hard for everyone who is trying to save in this economy…. Why are you Jealous??? This is soooooooooooo petty… I just have one question… What was your point of this beat down of Jamie… Is is that she was getting more attention huh??? This is just stupid…. And we should be sticking together instead trying to crucify people…..
So ashamed!!!
bjm19047 says
I THOUGHT something was off when I watched this episode of Extreme Couponing!
Everything I have read on how to coupon talks about reading the fine print on the coupon and purchasing what it says.
As an example, I had a $5 off Target coupon for 2 Purina brand purchases, but they had to be over a certain weight. I double checked and made sure I was purchasing the correct weight of the items (one dog food, one cat food). Then I made sure my two stackable coupons matched what the products were as well. At the end, the cashier had trouble with the $5 coupon. She and her manager looked at everything and it was all within the correct parameters, and the manager said that with coupons for that high of an amount ($5 off), it normally beeps to alert the cashier to double check that you are indeed purchasing the correct products!
My daughter thinks I am nuts, spending so much time in the store matching my coupons, but I wouldn’t want to defraud the system like that. I love using my coupons and seeing how much comes off at the end, and the only reason to be “nervous” at the register is when I am approaching my budget limit!
My goal this year (2013) is to keep the groceries under $150 every other week for me and the kids. I did really well 2 weeks ago at Giant and Bottom Dollar with couponing. I want to keep improving on my savings, but by doing it the “right” way.
At Giant the other week I had a Catalina for Johnsonville sausage. I also had a mfg for the same, and then they went on sale at Giant. Because of the Catalina, I got the one pack for $0.24. The other packs I bought with my coupons were $1.50. That works fine for me. But my point is, it was all done the “right” way, by following what my coupons said. That to me makes it even that much better — to know I was getting a deal without cutting corners.