TLC's "Extreme Couponing" update: Jaime Kirlew admits barcode matching, fraud
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.
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YOU not JAMIE is making it hard for us all...
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!!!
Unfortunately...
Jaime's actions, as well as the show, are hurting all couponers. Something like 8 out of the 12 episodes of this show depicted and glorified coupon fraud and coupon misuse.
I'd love to know how I am "making it hard for everyone who is trying to save in this economy." For the past three years I've done nothing but try to teach ethical couponing to as many people as possible - over 34,000 in live workshops since 2008, and over 20 million readers per week via my syndicated newspaper column.
Trust me, no one on this blog is "jealous" of anyone who appeared on that show. Dismayed at what was depicted? Absolutely.
It is interesting that you've been a member of this blog for just 37 minutes now, and are going through every post about Jaime and the TLC show on this blog and responding to them when these posts were written months ago and have pretty much become a dead issue here. This original post was written in May.
Industry fighting back
Look at this link: http://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.
I don't think
it's extreme couponing done in an ethical manner they're worried about, it's the fraudulent methods used in addition to it since one of these shoppers can do a lot of $$$ damage in a trip.
Apparently they consider counterfeit coupons to be just about anything (not including internet printables) you don't cut from the newspaper yourself.
Buddig Meats responds
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.
Coupon Language
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.
CIC interview
Somewhat related to this but covers a lot of other couponing topics as well.
http://www.chicagoshopping.com/deals/frugalista/chicago-shopping-coupon-...
Repercussions for the Rest of Us
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.
Something needs to be done!
The worst of all is that she was and probably still is TEACHING classes on how to use coupons.
I did not like to shop at Walmart before but yesterday was my "best" experience, thanks to Jaime and the show. I was trying to buy Nivea body wash using coupons cut from the inserts. Apparently a week or so ago there was a lady using counterfeit Nivea coupons at the same store and I was mistaken for her. After spending an hour at the store and being insulted by different employees, I left with a quick apology from manager's assistant and the body wash, which I do not use but wanted to donate.
Jaime lives not far from my area and I was wondering if it was one of her "students" shopping there.
That's awful!
My advice to you is that you shouldn't just accept the "quick apology"! You should talk to corporate about this and perhaps consider going to the press.
don't understand
I don't understand where the cashiers are either so poorly trained or so unethical that this even happens. In every store, on every purchase, my Qs are verified against my purchases. It IS very frustrating. I take great care to make sure that I am following the letter of the law. I have misstakenly had an expired Q in the pile once or twice, and died of embarrassment when it was brought to my attention, so I cannot understand how women like Jamie can live with themselves. I couldn't, and I certainly could not face my children.
Go to jail!
They did NOT "go through".
The cashier overrode the rejection and forced them to be accepted.
Fraud.
Whoops...
I just fixed a typo in the above message, and the graphic link Jill added no longer displays. Is this something I can fix, or can only Jill put image links in posts?
Only me...
... or else the board would be filled with spam. I have no problem inserting your images though if you ask (which many of you have. I'll fix.)
makes sense
especially given all the spam. Thanks for fixing. If I had known, I'd have just left it alone.
So what now?
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.
Ethics Violation
The public shaming she is and will continue to receive will have to suffice. No one is going to pursue a criminal prosecution or a civil suit. My only hope is that whatever law firm is foolish enough to hire her is made fully aware of her lack of ethics. Attorneys, who are subject to discipline and disbarment, take ethics violations seriously. So does National Federation of Paralegal Associations (NFPA), whose PACE program certifies registered paralegals in her state of MD.
Just curious
how this is fraud and how it could be prosecuted If the coupon scanned and the store gets reimbursed. There is no way that the manufacturer could know that a particular coupon was used on a 2oz size versus a larger size - that onus would be on the store to make sure it is the correct product - and the store took the coupon. Just last night on that show I saw a Jewel CS ok a coupon for the more expensive tuna selects when the couponer was buying the inexpensive tuna in a can.
Don't get me wrong, I think what Jaime did was wrong - not only for her coupon use but also for her selfish ways, but I am sure the exact same thing goes on every day all around us in every store - Jaime was just stupid enough to do it on TV. I also am hard pressed to see what she could be prosecuted for legally. While there are moral and ethic objections to what she did, legally I don't think they are going to be able to do much.
TLC on the other hand could stop promoting questionable practices.
Jill's article on gang cut coupons
http://www.jillcataldo.com/gang_cut_coupons
I think this will go the same way. Store gets audited and manufacturer ends up not reimbursing store. It's not like Jaime's stores are not known by address so it's not a needle in a haystack job to figure where the problem is. She's also an "extreme" couponer, so that could add up for the store.
"There is no way that the manufacturer could know that a particular coupon was used on a 2oz size versus a larger size - that onus would be on the store to make sure it is the correct product - and the store took the coupon. "
That's as easy as comparing the receipt the coupon was used against.
The manufacturer
does not ask every store to submit all their receipts so they can match up every coupon to them. Can you imagine what the price of food would be if each and every coupon had to be checked and verify against a receipt. So in theory if someone bought the larger packages of Buddig from the same store as Jaime for example then the manufacturer cannot tell which package the coupon was actually used on. It is more likely that if they really wanted to spend time and money tracing this that they would find a discrepancy in her case only because of the quantity bought and the number of coupons used. But this kind of fraud is done everyday on a smaller scale, and no one is the wiser.
In Jaime's case we know she used these incorrectly because we saw her do it. In the very unlikely case that anyone would ever file charges about this, her lawyer would fight to keep the show episode out even if it did show things clearly (not sure it does). She will never be prosecuted or fined.
Every store
or the one an extreme couponer with plenty of evidence against her shops at? Like you said, smaller scale or a store that has a history of doing heavy coupon redemption that is easily narrowed down to specific customers.
"So in theory if someone bought the larger packages of Buddig from the same store as Jaime for example then the manufacturer cannot tell which package the coupon was actually used on."
Each coupon is tied to a receipt which also shows the item description, including size. Time stamps/video and card numbers used at purchase all provide detail making it easy to figure out. The store would have to prove it if audited to get reimbursed or the money is out of the store's pocket. Coupon overrides are easy to spot as well for an audit.
Her lawyer can eliminate the show but then he'd have to go to her explanations in newspapers and have them thrown out as well. It doesn't sound like she's even thought about an attorney since she's still doing media confirming that the witchhunt she feels is after her basically has correct evidence.
Time frame
by the time the show aired I suspect it would be impossible to go back a trace the receipts and coupons. And they likely did not preserve the 'evidence'.
She doesn't have an attorney because nothing is going to come of this - no matter how much outrage there is.
BTW her attorney would trot out the portion of the show and interviews where the store managers were aware of what she was doing and that the cashier allowed the use of those coupons.
Would you really want your tax money spent on trying to prosecute her? First of all no prosecutor is going to touch this, which would mean it would end up in civil court - if the manufacturers decided to pursue this and I doubt they will. The most that anyone could hope for is a fine or community service, but that is not likely either.
The better approach is to have TLC teach/show/promote correct use, but that is not entertaining and won't happen.
Tax money
It's really not much different than shoplifting. Wouldn't mind if they spent money going after her.
What's likely to happen is what's already been covered. They've decided that new barcode technology is the way to go. She's basically stated that she'll see if that stops her. I don't know what CIC's history is with prosecuting individuals. I remember in the past they went after the clearinghouses but don't rule out individuals.
I've not watched this show. Was there more than the one episode and has she been brought back?
I think
they go after people who 'create' coupons rather than people who use legitimate coupons incorrectly. The burden seems to be on the store to make sure they coupons they accept are used correctly. Again, the store took those coupons, apparently even after they knew she was not using them on the correct items. They are both to blame here.
CIC busted this guy today:
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/internet/fbi-busts-4chan-man-extr...
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/227709/student_charged_wit...
The CIC has been after him for a while and discussed his ebook, "How to Make Coupons" at the ACP conference last month, which was a manual on how to make fake coupons. $200,000 of fake P&G printables he created were used at stores.
Now he's worried about his future employment?!
He's a student at Rochester Institute of Technology working on a degree in information security and now he's worried about getting a job when he's released from jail?? What was he thinking? What an idiot. I feel sorry for his parents working so hard to pay his tuition. All so their son could be convicted of a felony. Such a waste.
Because she...
Knowingly used a coupon fraudulently. She KNEW the coupons were for OTHER products/sizes/etc.
Hope she does get prosecuted.
Really, she thinks it is okay??? Cuz it is NOT!!
I doubt she'll get
I doubt she'll get prosecuted. While what she did is unethical without any doubt, she did not force the stores to take her coupons, nor did she copy them illegally or create them herself. The stores accepted them, the manufacturers created the barcodes that worked in lots of different ways (which they should have known), end of story, despite the harm that the whole mess has done to the rest of the couponing community. Additionally, if the Becentsable people did indeed sell a DVD where they advised their viewers/students to check barcodes, the whole mess definitely involves them as a result. I for one do not buy their explanation that they did it for teaching purposes: if a person can read what a coupon says in describing a product, why bother to look at the barcode? That's a very odd thing to do and advise. Which is not to say that this makes Kirlew less responsible for her unethical behavior.
I for one am confused. In general I have used all my coupons correctly, but there have been very few times in the past when I was unclear about something. Whenever there was an error I would even ask at the cashier, or the cashier would catch the error automatically when scanning a coupon. I guess the system was not set up well to begin with.