Customers of Stop & Shop supermarkets have been targeted in a recent online “click and share” scheme that appears to promise free groceries and the company is issuing a warning not to fall for it.
The scheme promises a free $175 grocery coupon for a limited time to celebrate Stop $ Shop's birthday and includes a counter on how many are left. but the grocery chain said on its Facebook page that it's not real. They have reported it to Facebook, but they are also asking customers to avoid providing the scammers with access to individual Facebook pages.
To our valued customers: There is a fraudulent $175 coupon circulating on social media channels. This is not valid at...
Posted by Stop & Shop on Monday, February 22, 2016
Some local customers said it’s not easy to tell it’s fake.
“To be honest, you can’t really tell because it looks real, but it won’t be," Robert Colvin, a Stop & Shop customer from New Haven, said.
Others said it is a tempting deal, if only it were real.
“Right now, times are tough," Julie Clement, of East Haven, said. "Everybody will take coupons if they can get them.”
U.S. & World
A similar “click and share” scheme involving Shop Rite went viral in December 2015.
"I saw the Shop Rite one, so I just didn’t do it this time," Clement said. “Just be careful and diligent. … If it looks too good to be true, it is.”
Stop & Shop has yet to determine who is behind what it calls “fraudulent” Facebook activity and apologized to customers for any confusion.
