MUST READ: TLC’s Extreme Couponing PROMOTING COUPON FRAUD!!!

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I do not really ever break from my deal and freebie posts to talk to you as my reader one – on – one — but I feel that this is really important and want your input as well. As the Budget Savvy Diva – I use coupons and search for great deals — I try and give YOU my reader as much information that I have about a deal. Now I might get it wrong sometimes or a deal might run out – and for that I am sorry – BUT I AM NEVER going to tell you to do something that is COUPON FRAUD

Well —- there are other couponing bloggers do not feel the same way I do. TLC Extreme Couponing — is now coming under fire for featuring a unethical couponer –

Jaime Kirlew, a paralegal and coupon workshop instructor from Maryland, is coming under fire from several coupon-related forums for the unethical coupon tactics that she utilized in a series of YouTube videos demonstrating how to use coupons in a fraudulent manner while shopping at Target.

I cannot believe she would do this much less film it – it makes me ( Budget Savvy Diva)  sick to my stomach – I work 10 -12 hours a day to provide all of you a free service on how to save money and coupon ethically. I cannot believe TLC would feature her.

Check this out:

Coupon 101 – Coupon Fraud & The Importance of Proper Coupon Use

There are SERIOUS consequences for coupon fraud
Check out what she did
In 2010, Jaime Kirlew called herself the “Diva For Coupons” and ran a blog under the same name.
She caused a stir when she posted two videos of her Target shopping trips, in which she used $4 coupons for Schick Razors on Schick shaving gel, $10 Crest Whitestrip coupons on Tide, and a host of other flagrant misuses of coupons issued for one product being used on another. As if showcasing coupon fraud weren’t enough, Jaime also showed herself using printable coupons for $5 off Procter & Gamble products.
(Trouble is, P&G has never issued printable coupons for their products, and those same coupons had been on the known counterfeit coupons for about five months by the time she made her videos.)
CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS!!!
Gets even worse!!!
At the time, the YouTube videos spread around the web on large coupon forums, including SlickDeals.com and AFullCup.com, where a forum user wrote: 

“Seriously…what a disgrace to honest couponers who stil manage to have a great stockpile and save tons of money without using coupons fraudently…

the Olay coupons was for REGENERIST ONLY..not ANY Olay..the Vaseline coupons was for the SHEER INFUSION, not ANY..the Johnson’s coupon specifically excluded Buddy Bars, which you bought anyways…you are that type of couponer who gives the rest of us a bad name…I bet you also doctor internet coupons and make multiple copies of coupons huh….well I have forwarded your video to the loss prevention officer at your Gaithersburg Target and urge others to call him at 125 Grand Corner Ave, Gaithersburg, MD 20878, (301) 721-1760. Just ask for loss prevention, they seem to already have quite a nice file on her and this was just the evidence they needed. Would you like the “get out of jail free” card from my kid’s Monopoly game?? Loser!”

WHAT did she say in her defense —-
not much — but she will teach you how to shop like she does —– for $35.00 !!!! What a disgrace!
When people realized she was going to be featured on TLC Extreme Couponing – people began to ask legitimate questions on the TLC Extreme Couponing Facebook —– they were deleted soon after  —
THEN TLC DELETED THEIR TLC Extreme Couponing FACEBOOK!!!!! Can you believe it??? Why do YOU think they did that??
BUT Budget Savvy Diva has proof for you of her fraud
SlickDeals forum member Neekyme saved photographs from Jaime’s blog showing the items she bought in one of her YouTube Target trips, along with her receipt
Members of A Full Cup have started decoding the UPC codes listed in the photograph of Jaime’s receipt from one of her Target videos. User Timmsa writes, “upc 541058560936 and 541058530939 are the $4 off the Schick Quattro Razors. 537000616745 is for the Crest Whitening strips.” Unfortunately, Jaime bought neither Schick Quattro razors, nor Crest Whitestrips in her Target trip, and neither of these items are shown in the photo accompanying the receipt.
WHY DID TLC NOT FIND ANY OF THIS BEFORE FILMING?????
This is all TLC has to say -states: “Some of the people profiled in the series include Montgomery Village, MD’s J’aime, a paralegal who brings her prides herself on her couponing professionalism while scoring $1900 worth of merchandise for $103…”
Plus Kroger is not outwardly stating BUT it has been implied that it is EXTREME COUPONING – multiple features of Kroger that prompted –
Please comment what you think – what should WE as couponers should do???
LET TLC KNOW HOW YOU FEEL – TLC FACEBOOK –

Thank you —– Jill

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Comments

  • Beth Matta

    I follow you on Twitter and I love all your help. I am a stay at home mother of 2. We live in Pittsburgh, PA. I have saved over hundreds of dollars by doing it the right way! It makes me so made that their are people out there doing this. It will someday ruin it for all of us HONEST people!!!!! I agree with you TOTALLY !!!

  • Michelle

    I have to say that’s horrible. I don’t understand why she would be so stupid to post fraud like this and why people do it this way. I’ve been unemployed since Jan., so right now I’m a forced SAHM, and my hubby is working as much as he can. Even as tight as things are for me right now, I would never steal like this. The attitude of well, the company gets their money back for coupons is stupid, and in fact what this person did was steal. I wonder if she’s aware she can go to jail for what she did?? I’m totally on your side, and I so appreciate all your posts. It’s helped me so much.

  • Zabrina Caldwell

    I find it quite strange that stores let her get away with it. I used to work at Walmart about 5 years ago and we had to print the receipt before cashing out and check all coupons with the receipt print out. If they did not match up I would then have to give it back to the customer and explained they did not follow the rules listed on the coupon for the use of it. Now Walmart has a “Smart System” that actually can detect if you are purchasing the correct products for the coupons. If you do not have the right things as stated on the coupon the register will deny the use of that coupon. Now, sometimes UPCs change or new products in a line are added but not in the computer and they can be manually entered, but that is RARE. I totally agree with you about this matter, and all it is doing is making it harder for us to take advantage of deals and coupons when they are issued, because companies are doing away with many of the ways to save because of it. I really thing the extreme couponing is absurd, who needs 70 bottles of mustard in their house? Who needs 1800 rolls of toilet paper at one time. I am sure if you took advantage of the deal in a reasonable limit it would be much better then clearing an entire shelf so others can not purchase and spend money on the items. Maybe I am wrong, but I think it is terrible. We usually have a grocery/home needs bill of about $900 a month for 4 of us. I am happy to save as much as possible, don’t get me wrong but there has to be a line drawn somewhere! WE usually save about $200 a month off of our entire monthly needs because of the wonderful deals that you and other amazing bloggers bring us! And that we appreciate greatly, but I would never EVER spend 8-12 hours a day to live on coupons, we have too many things to do with life, and my kids are special needs children and have tons going on. Thanks for the post!

    Zabrina Caldwell
    Z’s Space Reviews
    http://zsblogapace.blogspot.com
    Butler, PA

  • kristen

    I too have written a post on this. The whole situation is heartbreaking to those of us who coupon ethically and legally and try to share that knowledge with out readers! I have, as of yesterday, posted on TLC (NOT their Extreme couponing, but their Main Facebook wall that they really need to get someone to look into this as they are actually promoting it

  • Juleah Morgan Brewer

    Not only was J’amie’s “extreme couponing” illegal, but it seems like a slap in the face to regular coupon shoppers. Her entire backstory and her need to appear as though she is classier than she is. All the makeup, Coach bags, and shiny boots are fooling no one. Trash is trash and she should be held responsible for her actions.

  • Jan

    I certainly don’t want to be put in the same category as Jaime. It is sad and unfortunate that TLC is promoting someone like this. It’s really too bad that they can’t show people who use coupons honestly. This extreme thing they have going is just that, much too extreme and nothing like reality.

  • Jenn

    WOW! I had no idea that people try to use coupons for things that they aren’t intended for, before I read this. That’s insane. It also explanes why alot of stores around here are really cracking down on coupons. Some even go as far as to make you feel guilty if you are useing more than a few in your order. (Even if they are for different items.) I try to buy as many things I can ( that I need) with a coupon. I would never buy 70ish bottle of mustard just because it was a deal 1 or 2 maybe, we would actually use them, but never that many. I knew that there were fakes out there but even I can spot those and I’m new at this. Dressing up doesn’t hide them. Who knew people would defraud stores with coupons. I sure didn’t. : /

  • Dani

    I just can’t even understand how this is possible (granted, I don’t coupon at Target b/c it’s too far from my house). BUT I do coupon at Walgreens, Rite Aid, Safeway, QFC, and Fred Meyers and at all of those stores, the machine always beep if something doesn’t match up (like when I don’t realize the coupon I have is for only a specific Colgate toothbrush that isn’t the same one on sale). The machine beeps, the cashier points it out and gives me back the coupon, I apologize for not paying more attention to the details of the coupon, and that’s it. I just can’t fathom how Target’s machines don’t BEEP!

  • Jeanne

    I was surfing the channels and came across this program. This person (Jamie) admitted that the local newspaper put bundles of coupon inserts at her door each week. As a former production manager of a newspaper printing plant, I know we were specifically instructed by Valasis, P&G and other coupon printers to destroy all uninserted coupons. And we did. We didn’t even allow our employees to take extra inserts home. It’s unethical for the newspaper to do that. Furthermore, I saw others featured on the shows that were pretty much hoarders. Why would one buy 60 containers of mustard solely because they can get them for 35 cents each? Don’t get me wrong, I like a good deal, but I only buy what I am actually going to use and a reasonable amount of an item (4 or 5 max). Not to judge them, but some seemed to need psychological help.

  • Allison

    Like the old saying goes “if it’s too good to be true, than it probably is”. I was talking to my husband about the show, and how some of these people have multiple computers, TLC ommitted items that were in the cart but didn’t appear at the register. I’m saying to him, “there is no way in heck that an $800 order can be brought down to 1cent!” And it’s true! Finally proving it after reading your post(s) on this! Thank you so much! Each week I clip my coupons, do the ad matching, and stretch my dollar to the fullest extent I can, LEGALLY! In a $200 shop, I might pay around $90,but I have 2 little girls, husband; a family. There’s no way I’m missing out on life stressing about how these people on TLC are saving big bucks when it’s all FAKE to begin with (Again, thank you for bringing Extreme Couponing or “Extreme Fraudulent Couponing” to light). It’s nice to save money, but my babies are only young once and I’m quite satisfied with the tips I learn from this site and great offers!

  • Julie

    I know people who have learned from some of these people how to use coupons for products not specifically listed on the coupon but from the same manufacturer. I think it is disgraceful to do so. People who use coupons like this are going to ruin it for those of us who use coupons legally. I have already had some run ins at the stores where the clerks have informed me very rudely that their policies are changing and I can thank the Extreme couponers. It really makes me upset that I need to save money on groceries as I have been unable to work for 6 months due to health issues. This is the one area we can save to help make ends meet. Now the stores are changing coupon policies because of these individuals who are being fradulant. I think they should take this show off the air. Nothing but trouble has come from it!