Kohl's Coupons News

An Anaheim male, Boi Quoc Vo, aged 30, pleaded guilty to producing and selling some thousands of counterfeit Kohl’s coupons which earned him near about $93,000 in a period of one month- long scheme. US Immigration and Customs Enforcement Officials announced that he pleaded guilty on account of trafficking in fake documentation under a defense agreement for which he faces a reprimand of 20 long years in jail along with a hefty fine of $250,000, or twofold of gain or loss that he acquired from the scam, whichever may be greater. He is slated to be sentenced on 3rd March 2014.

Claude Arnold the special agent of ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations branch in Los Angeles exclaimed that encountering intellectual property cases allied with phony products was customary, but such a scheme involving the sell of counterfeit store coupons was the first time that they confronted with an indictment.

Vo admitted in his plea agreement that he acquired the electronic coupons which the department used gave away to his customers those who had signed up for email marketing service and then used some kind of editing software for changing or removing certain security features that were intended to avert duplication or replicating the use of discounts.

The agreement says that the finished fake products resembled to those of the genuine Kohl’s discount coupons and also had security aspects that forced the Kohl’s store personnel to accept them as genuine ones.

Vo then produced thousand copies of such coupons and sold them on eBay by using a lot of different accounts and user names for concealing his identity. The coupons had been marketed in numerous states, including California.

Boi Quoc Vo also informed the authorities that he kept a record of his expenses and sales, and generated an income of around $93,000 by selling the phony coupons. But officials haven’t been able to yet determine Kohl’s loss as it was the number of fake coupons which were accepted was ambiguous.


ICE authorities said that the investigation began the previous year after its Virginia centered Intellectual Property Rights Coordination center suspected of Vo being the possible accused for sale of fake coupons. eBay and Kohl also largely assisted the Orange Country based agents.