South Carolina coupon insert reseller ring busted

Authorities in South Carolina have arrested four people involved in a coupon insert theft and resale ring. One of the people is an officer who resigned from the sheriff’s office once the theft was uncovered..! From Greenville Online:

Two Greenville men and a detention center officer and his wife have been arrested after authorities said thousands of dollars worth of coupons were stolen from the Spartanburg Herald-Journal’s distribution center.

Spartanburg County investigators said two of the suspects were caught during a surveillance operation Sunday at the distribution center. The men were seen on video stuffing coupons into trash bags, an incident report said. The stolen coupons would then go to another couple who sold them through social media sites and pocketed a percentage of the profits, the report said.

The investigation is ongoing, and more charges are expected, Letterman said. Letterman asks that anyone who may have purchased coupons from the suspects to contact the Spartanburg Sheriff’s Office at 864-503-4500.

It’s just incredible to me that people continue to purchase coupons online. I understand wanting to have more coupons, but the only legitimate way for consumers to purchase coupon inserts is to purchase multiple newspapers. Anyone who tells you otherwise is attempting to deceive you. (Look at the coupons themselves too — nearly all manufacturer coupons state that they are void if sold.)

Keeping track of the inserts is something both NewsAmerica and Valassis (publishers of the SmartSource, P&G and RedPlum coupon inserts) take very seriously. If there are any extra inserts left over once newspapers are stuffed, the newspapers are under contract to either destroy or return the inserts back to these companies.

If people are acquiring large numbers of inserts and claiming they got them “free,” there are only a few ways this could happen:

• They are stealing the inserts before they are inserted into the newspapers
• They are stealing inserts left over after the newspaper-stuffing process
• They are making deals with someone (illegally) to obtain the excess inserts from someone at the newspaper, either before or the papers are stuffed
• They’re dumpster-diving for inserts after a newspaper has disposed of any excess. (Some people may view this last option as a semi-legitimate means of acquiring them. However, at that point, legally, the inserts were disposed of by the newspaper.) 

Two of the people arrested in the investigation were charged with receiving stolen goods, and the investigation is ongoing. To anyone who feels there is a “legitimate” way to purchase whole inserts online… are you prepared to be charged as an accessory to receiving stolen goods? Your insert seller is going to tell you whatever he or she thinks you want to hear in order to get your money. Period. 

One of the people arrested was selling inserts in a Facebook group, and throughout the day I have been hearing from members of this group and other groups asking for my “opinion” on insert resale. 

While that reseller has been removed from this group, other resellers remain in the same group, and I’ve been receiving email and Facebook messages from members of this and other groups today. The undertone of many of these emails seems to be “I can’t get in trouble for buying inserts, right? I’m just a buyer!” And, “This person is still in our group, so she’s legit, right?” Note that I have no connection or knowledge of the following seller’s activities (she is also selling in the same group that the arrested seller was removed from) but again — how is this person getting so many inserts? 

Read that post carefully. It was posted today, April 29th. This seller has May 3rd’s inserts ready to ship this Saturday, May 2nd. These inserts are not even due to hit the newspapers until the next day! I guarantee you that no one at Valassis or NewsAmerica has legitimately supplied someone with hundreds or thousands of inserts for the purposes of shipping to consumers days ahead of the date they are even supposed to hit the newsstands. 

Here’s another screenshot that was sent to me today: 

If you’re buying inserts, you can be charged with purchasing stolen goods, because again — there is no legitimate way for someone to acquire so many inserts outside from purchasing that many newspapers. Why would you want to put yourself at that kind of risk?