(Update: All three defendants were ultimately sentenced to 50 hours each of community service and ordered to pay restitution. Dalton’s sum was $614.92, Bailey’s was $626.95 and Heath, the cashier, was ordered to pay back a total of $2,267.97.) Some enterprising coupon counterfeiters have apparently learned that it doesn’t matter if your coupons look real – if you get a[Read More…]
Seller beware: You may not have created the coupons you’re hawking on eBay, but if they turn out to be counterfeit, you could be the one in trouble while the actual counterfeiter gets off scot-free. That seems to be the case so far in the federal lawsuit that snack maker Link Snacks filed earlier this year. The search for the[Read More…]
The last of three convicted coupon counterfeiters may have breathed a sigh of relief after seeing the sentence that one of her former cohorts received. A week later, she’s now received the same – probation and no jail time. 54-year-old Marilyn Johnson was sentenced in a Phoenix courtroom today. Like Amiko Fountain, who was sentenced last week (read: “Coupon Counterfeiter[Read More…]
Her former boss got two years in prison for her role in running a multi-million dollar counterfeit coupon ring in Phoenix. So it was presumed that, as a mere employee, Amiko Fountain’s sentence would be somewhat less severe. And it was. 43-year-old Fountain was sentenced today to three years probation, on a single count of counterfeiting. She had already served[Read More…]
Hundreds of companies victimized. Thousands of customers scammed. Tens of millions of dollars raked in. And two years in prison. That’s fair, right? That was the sentence handed down today to 41-year-old Robin Ramirez, the ringleader of a counterfeit coupon operation that was busted in Phoenix last summer. Ramirez pleaded guilty in February to charges of counterfeiting, fraud and illegal[Read More…]
If you’re facing criminal charges for using tens of thousands of dollars worth of counterfeit coupons, perhaps it’s not a great idea to threaten to kill the person who turned you in. That’s what authorities in Pennsylvania allege that 29-year-old Samir Muhana did. The Philadelphia man was arrested in February and charged with using counterfeit coupons to buy mass quantities[Read More…]
Tens of millions of dollars worth of counterfeit coupons are out of circulation, and now, so is the woman charged with running the whole operation. 41-year-old Robin Ramirez, who was set to stand trial for operating a multi-million dollar counterfeit coupon ring in Phoenix, has changed her pleas to guilty, on charges of counterfeiting, fraud and illegal control of an[Read More…]
Not every counterfeit coupon case makes national headlines, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t plenty of them. For every big counterfeiting conviction and every multi-million dollar operation thwarted, there are untold numbers of lesser cases – and they all add up. Just this past week, three coupon counterfeiting cases came to light, all of them involving baby formula. First, police[Read More…]
Two down, one to go. A second suspect in the massive counterfeit coupon ring that was busted in Phoenix this summer, has changed her plea to guilty. During a court hearing today, 42-year-old Amiko Fountain pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of counterfeiting. Additional charges of forgery and fraud will be dropped. The plea agreement matches that of co-defendant Marilyn[Read More…]
One of three women charged in a massive coupon fraud ring has changed her plea to guilty – admitting her role in the multi-million dollar counterfeit coupon operation. 54-year-old Marilyn Johnson pleaded guilty in a Phoenix courtroom today to a reduced charge of counterfeiting, changing her original not guilty plea on charges of counterfeiting, forgery and fraud. Johnson was arrested[Read More…]
