Police investigating bogus e-coupon scams at Westmoreland County businesses
HEMPFIELD TOWNSHIP, Pa. (KDKA) - State police in Westmoreland County say thieves are targeting local businesses using bogus e-coupons and say the suspects are believed to be a small part of a much larger scam network.
According to investigators, the two men tried to pull off a small-scale but high-tech crime at a 7-Eleven in Hempfield Township.
"When they went into the store, they tried to purchase Newport cigarettes but they had an electronic coupon to make the cigarettes free," said trooper Steve Limani.
The ones the two suspects tried to use weren't legit, police said.
"We think they're part of a much larger scam where these digital coupons are being utilized to try and take advantage of these merchants," Limani said.
In this case, the clerk at the convenience store started asking questions about the digital e-coupon after it didn't work. Not long after that, the two suspects took off.
"There was a multitude of these crimes happening in our area," said Limani, including multiple other 7-Elevens. Big national operations like 7-Elevens and other big box stores can usually take the financial loss but smaller stores that get ripped off can't.
"These smaller stores, if you're handing over cartons and cartons of cigarettes, it can be a huge hit financially for you," Limani said.
How do they get them? The deep recesses of the dark web are full of places where you can pay money to buy counterfeit e-coupons. It's a matter of downloading whatever coupon you want and just going to your nearest retailer to use it.
"As soon as you think you came up with a great way to serve your customers with digital coupons, here come the hackers and thieves," said Limani.
"The people who are trying to come up with all these ways to take advantage of people actually used their ideas for productivity, they'd probably be a heck of a business person."
State police say if you're a business that was victimized by this scam, they want to hear from you.
