Sometimes things sound too good to be true. There are sites all over the internet that offer amazing discount and free offers. The problem is a lot of the offers are fake.

We were in a Sweet Tomato restaurant recently when a family provided a 2 for 1 coupon for dinner. The restaurant manager had to tell the customer that the coupon was fake and not a valid coupon. So the family did not receive the discount and felt the restaurant was taking advantage of them. This is not a very good practice for the customer or the restaurant.

Why would someone put up fake coupons on a website? There are many reasons, but here are just a few:

1. Some websites get paid money each time someone clicks on ads on their site, and what better way to get people there than with great discounts and free coupons.
2. If a customer has to sign up on a website to get coupons e-mailed to them, that personal information might be sold to e-mail lists and increase Spam.
3. A website might offer you a great deal like, “More discounts for only $9.95 per year and get over $1,000 in savings monthly.”

If you fall for this, you just gave your credit card information to someone you don’t know and will never see or hear from again - except for the extra charges that will show up on your monthly bill.

If you found a $100 bill on the internet, printed it out and took it to a bank, they would not cash it. This is the same concept with fake web coupons (except a bank might charge you with counterfeiting). It fact, if you use a fake coupon or offer, you are the one that is considered a counterfeiter.

So always check the validity of your coupons and report the bad offer sites to the affected companies so they can shut them down.

Here is a GOOD offer for you! 25% off meal cruises at Lake Mead Cruises! Reservations should be made online at www.lakemeadcruises.com using the offer code BCM.

For more information on this and other tech issues, contact Brad at (702) 294-1392 or www.applebyarts.com.