In an article from February of 2006, Police in Lawrence, Kansas were said to have issued a warning about fake coupons:

In general, the fake coupons offer large discounts or a free item with no required purchase.

Hmmm, like the Starbucks coupon? In this case, again, the retailers have a hard time knowing whether the coupons are legitimately created by a manufacturer.

Employees at Checkers called police this week after they received an e-mail from one of their saleswomen warning of the scam. They checked their records and found that three of the coupons had been recently accepted, Smith said — two of them by the same woman who came to the store twice and each time used a coupon offering $5 off a bottle of Advil.

So and Advil coupon is very different than a Checker’s coupon being redeemed at Checkers, from a security perspective, but it nonetheless highlights the changing landscape for retailers.