Coupons In The News has a story today with additional details about the shutdown:
Finally, a definitive answer to the question first raised a month ago – is Facebook really shutting down coupon groups?Yes – and investigators working on behalf of the coupon industry are behind it.
Facebook has repeatedly refused comment on the issue. But a firm that specializes in corporate security and risk management now confirms to Coupons in the News that it was their company that investigated and alerted Facebook to nearly a hundred groups engaging in questionable coupon activity. And Facebook responded by shutting the groups down.
Brand Technologies president Jane Beauchamp says the company conducted a months-long undercover investigation of a number of Facebook coupon groups – many of them “secret” and invitation-only. The main focus was on groups that openly discussed and advocated coupon fraud, such as decoding coupons’ bar codes, exploiting so-called “glitches” that allow you to use high-value coupons on lower-priced products for which they’re not intended.
“We investigated, presented to our clients and after their review, Facebook reviewed the groups we documented as well, and took action that corresponded with their community standards,” Beauchamp told Coupons in the News.
Facebook’s community standards include a prohibition against users “promoting, planning or celebrating any of your actions if they have, or could, result in financial harm to others.” Defrauding companies and retailers by misusing coupons – and then boasting about it and teaching others how to do it – would certainly seem to be a violation of that Facebook policy.
This has been a busy week for news regarding coupon misuse on Facebook. Earlier this week, the CIC announced its own investigation into illicit coupon activity on Facebook.
