Supermarket coupon 'scam' sweeps UK after viral TikTok
A British supermarket has lost "hundreds of thousands" of dollars to a "coupon scam" that allowed people to pay for a bag of candy without paying for it.
British supermarket Tesco was forced to have action after a TikTok trend – dubbed the Tesco Method – went viral, showing how to take habitation gratuitous candy using a coupon as it passed a supermarket checkout.
The $ane.19 (£ane) coupon was originally issued as a goodwill gesture by the manufacturer to customers following a complaint.
Merely the loophole with its use means it can be scanned over and over once more, which once exposed, is then widely circulated.
Social media users then publicly "abused" the loophole, filming themselves bringing home trolleys and baskets of candy they had not paid for.
Once Tesco establish out what was going on, it caused anarchy at the checkout counter equally it made moves to shut its convenience stores across the country in a bid to prevent any more losses.
This problem has as well prompted many supermarkets in the UK to impose a complete ban on coupons.
Holly Smith, the renowned British money-saving good dubbed the "coupon queen", has described the situation every bit "the biggest coupon scam to ever hitting the UK".
"The Tesco method has price hundreds of thousands of pounds," he explains in a video that has been viewed millions of times.
"The coupon everyone used was originally issued to someone emailing the manufacturer with a complaint, and as a gesture of goodwill, the manufacturer sent them this $1.xix (£1) discount coupon.
"This was never meant to exist shared publicly because it is unique to that one person."
Holly went on to explicate that while an fault with the barcode on the coupon allowed for endless use in supermarkets, the second barcode used by the manufacturer identified the number of times it could be claimed by the intended recipient.
"So at the stop of the day when Tesco sends all the coupons to the manufacturer to get back $i.19 for every bag purchased, the manufacturer will scan this barcode.
"If it's been used once, the manufacturer won't pay more.
"So all the candy bags yous see people getting, Tesco only gets $1.xix (£1). So that'due south why they lost hundreds of thousands of pounds."
TikTok has been inundated with videos of people showing off their complimentary catches, with ane user bragging virtually getting over $35 worth of Skittles and Maltesers for free.
Clips of trolleys and baskets filled to the brim with Mars products take as well been widely seen as several people shared their tips for picking up as much candy as possible without getting caught.
However, the loophole had been closed, but not earlier some were "defenseless" and facing legal action.
One TikTok user claimed he had received a $477 (£400) fine after being arrested by staff – while another shared a video of police arriving at their home, captioned: "Your POV caught hacking Tesco."
The "Tesco method" was slammed by many users, who compared it to "stealing" and "shoplifting".
"Information technology's the same as going into the shop, seeing there'southward no toll and maxim to the staff, 'Oh, it must be free,'" said one.
But many failed to share sympathy for supermarkets, with one caption: "I struggle to feel sorry for Tesco as a multi-billion pound company paying workers money."
Source: https://www.smartfamily.id/supermarket-coupon-scam-sweeps-uk-after-viral-tiktok/
Posted by: thomasthicalin.blogspot.com
0 Response to "Supermarket coupon 'scam' sweeps UK after viral TikTok"
Post a Comment