US20040210484A1

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Info

Publication number: US20040210484A1
Application number: US10/840,514
Authority: US
Inventors: Duncan Lee
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: LEE DUNCAN
Priority date: 2000-02-28
Filing date: 2004-05-06
Publication date: 2004-10-21
Also published as: US6766301B1

Abstract

A membership user coupon program for printed and electronic coupons having built-in measures to deter fraud committed by a retailer and/or a consumer during the redemption and/or reimbursement of the coupon. The system and process provide traceability prior to the issuance and/or printing of the coupon, prior to a retailer acceptance of the coupon and at the point of sale.

Description

This is a continuation application of Ser. No. 09/513,963 filed Feb. 28, 2000 now allowed.[0001]

BACKGROUND

More and more consumers are shopping “online”, that is through the Internet, because of convenience, wider selection and most of the time, better pricing. Internet is synonymous to a global computer network. This type of marketing has cut the cost of the middlemen. This method of marketing is also favorable to the manufacturers and service providers because they can sell directly to the consumers and retailers without the need of distributors and nation wide warehouses. This increase in online purchasing of goods and services, herein collectively referred to as products, has also created the need for electronic coupons which are provided by manufacturers and service providers to consumers as marketing incentives. Manufacturers and service providers, are also herein collectively referred to as providers. Electronic coupons are similar to the traditional paper printed coupons which are submitted by consumers when purchasing a particular good or service in exchange for a monetary discount in price or a rebate except that electronic coupons are retrieved and/or printed online by consumers and retailers, herein also referred to as users. These coupons typically contain product information, the coupon amount, expiration date, and in some, transaction data such as the number of allowable coupon per user and the total number of coupons allowed for a given promotion, herein also referred to as certificate marks. These certificate marks may be accompanied by other identification data which are printed in numbers, letters, bar codes, combination of these, or other symbols that uniquely identify each coupon, herein also referred to as identification mark.[0002]

Printed coupons have been faced with both retailer and consumer fraud, referred to as coupon fraud, which have necessitated the additional printing of unique certificate and identification marks. The exact percent of coupon frauds related to traditional newspaper printed coupons is unknown, because there are only primitive techniques available to suspect potential frauds, with very limited tools and audit trail to isolate the fraudulent activities. Some experts have stated that coupons frauds are about 25%, and most agree that retailer coupon frauds are significantly more of a concern than consumer coupon frauds.[0003]

Electronic coupons are expected to experience the same or even greater coupon fraudulent practices because of the convenience of printing several copies of the coupon online by a user. This fear of influx of consumer and retailer coupon fraud have created some resistance in adapting electronic coupons among providers especially those that produce and sell high priced merchandise. Golden, et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 5,761,648 attempted to address this issue by providing an online coupon issuing service which identifies and marks each electronic coupon or certificate with a code distinguishing a particular certificate from all other certificates, referred to as unique certificate mark and another code identifying the user, referred to as unique identification mark. In addition, the data processing system within the online coupon issuing service, limits the total number of certificates to be issued, as well as the number of certificates to be issued to each individual and makes these actual transactions of printing the certificates by the users available in a report form. While the system of Golden prevents some form of coupon fraud, it is ineffective because its traceability ends at the point of printing the coupon. The system of Golden does not provide an efficient system for tracing whether or not an actual use of the product coupon occurred at the point of sale where most of coupon fraud occur. More specifically, the system does not provide an audit trail for tracing a particular sale transaction to a validated sale by a validated consumer. While providing a PIN (personal identification number) identifies a consumer/user and if set-up to do so, the demographics of such user as to location of sale, etc., such security measures only ensure that the coupon is valid and was issued to a consumer/user having an issued PIN. There are no built in safeguards prior to the issuance of a PIN number such as verifying that such consumer is not a fictitious person, that is, it does not tie the provided information such as a credit card number to the database of the credit card issuer or if a bank checking account is provided instead of a credit card, to an issuing bank. Additionally, even if issuance of the PIN is verified with the credit card issuer or the personal check to an issuing bank, a retailer can still gather these legitimate coupons, submit these to the provider for reimbursement without having an actual sale transaction take place. Scanning a coupon before credit deduction from the consumer's bill only protects the retailer in ensuring the validity of the coupon. The PIN does not address the issue when it is the retailer that commits the coupon fraud as stated above. Further, the system of Golden is inapplicable to the traditional paper printed coupon.[0004]

A retailer coupon fraud is commonly committed by a retailer submitting several providers' coupon to the provider for reimbursement on non-bonafide sales or fictitious purchases. A coupon that has unique markings, such as that proposed by Golden, will not deter retailer coupon fraud because a retailer can just gather several of these coupons, submit them to the provider and get the reimbursement without having to link such coupons to actual sale transactions. Consequently, a provider will experience a loss by reimbursing the retailer without getting the benefit of generating the revenue from an actual sale of the product, as well as a loss of an opportunity for generating a potential repeat customer or consumer by the retailer hoarding such coupons. Combining the unique certificate mark with the unique identification mark, as proposed by Golden, does not provide a solution to the problem because a retailer can ask several living individuals and fictitious individuals to print these electronic coupons and submit these to the providers without requiring these individuals to actually buy the product.[0005]

A consumer coupon fraud is usually committed by unauthorized copying of the product coupon, counterfeiting, unauthorized tampering of the value and expiration date of the coupon, unauthorized creation of a special promotion and by printing or getting several coupons which a consumer or a single household uses by going back and forth to a store or several stores to purchase the same specified product, that is, doing multiple redemption of the coupon. The latter type of consumer fraud is usually of a lesser monetary loss to a provider. However, these type of fraud is rampant and often ignored by a retailer. The providers experience loss by defeating the purpose of the coupon, that of promoting the product through the issuance of a discount coupon, as an incentive for the consumer to try the product at the discounted rate. Because these coupons are provided in limited quantity and usually for a limited time, the use of several of these coupons by one consumer prevents the provider from reaching a greater number of consumers belonging to different households. Golden et al. deters only the copying of the product coupon through the printing of a unique identification mark for each certificate or coupon. However, like the retailer coupon fraud, the unique marks do not deter the printing of several legitimate coupons by as many members of a household, not ignoring the potential for the same household using fictitious users to print more coupons. One household can potentially print a sizeable percentage of the total allowable coupons thereby minimizing the widespread distribution of these coupons.[0006]

The present invention addresses both the retailer and consumer fraud by providing traceability prior to the issuance and/or printing of the coupon, prior to a retailer acceptance of the coupon and more importantly, traceability of the product coupon at the point of sale. The system places value on consumer validation, and educates the industry to enforce the necessity and policy of only accepting traceable purchases by credit card, smart card, cash card and the like, collectively referred herein as credit card, or by personal check, for all types of coupons. Utilizing the claimed invention provides the necessary audit trail that enables the providers to aggressively deter and reduce both types of coupon frauds, and additionally provide the required evidence to prosecute retailers for their criminal activities, if desired. The system generally accomplishes this by requiring consumer membership prior to issuance of the coupon, limiting the sale to credit card or check payment, that is, no cash purchase is allowed with coupon redemption, and requiring or providing user validation and verification at the point of sale with an actual sale reported or transmitted to a database having a traceable retailer file or if applied to a traditional paper printed coupon or third party coupons, a proof of sale imprinted on the coupon. Imprinting may be done manually or electronically through a printer.[0007]

It is an object of this invention to provide both printed and electronic coupons that are traceable at the point of sale thereby deterring and reducing both retailer and consumer fraud.[0008]

It is also an object of this invention to provide a system for using traditional paper coupons and current electronic coupons with or without printed unique identification marks by implementing the security devices of this invention.[0009]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The issuance and printing of manufacturing coupons with certificate marks, and/or identification marks and/or encrypted security marks are known. Online printing by users of coupons, referred to as electronic coupons, the coupons bearing information or data supplied by the manufacturer or a service provider, is also known. See U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,907,830; 5,761,648; and, 5,305,197 as examples. These on line processes generally involves a provider or a provider with a service center, the service center herein also referred to as coupon issuer, in electronic communication with each other, generating providers' coupons for users' perusal and storing these in a data base ready to be printed by an interested user. Current or known coupons generally contain the product information, amount of the coupon, expiration date and optionally, marketing data, identification information and security codes to uniquely identify the user and/or the promotion for verification on the authenticity of the respective coupons. Although the claimed invention proposes its own unique provider coupon and its method/s of issuance, printing and redemption of these coupons, all of these current or known coupons issued on line or paper printed and the processes for generating these can be modified and adapted to any one of the processes of the claimed invention to deter or reduce coupon fraud. The present invention provides a system for deterring and reducing coupon fraud by building in security measures both in the process and in the printed coupon.[0010]

The invention utilizes an interactive online database system, herein referred to as IODS, which operates on a membership basis where users are validated and each given an identification number or mark. An interactive online database system used in this invention is a sophisticated combination of three subsystems all working together to perform the different operations or process steps described by the different claimed methods.[0011]

A method for registering a first time coupon user as a member consumer/user into the coupon program described herein comprise the steps of entering a prescreening information such as a unique user name, a password and any other information requested by a service center or a provider to an interactive online database system, also referred to as IODS; verifying the user name, password and other information for uniqueness, determining existing number of accounts set up on a consumer/user terminal, usually an e-mail address used for requesting online membership, preapproving or predisapproving, that is, accepting or rejecting the prescreening information of the consumer/user by the interactive online database system; informing the consumer/user to enter a new prescreening information if the entered information is not acceptable; entering financial and directory information to the online database system once the prescreening information is accepted; and, determining existing number of financial accounts listed under the consumer/user, approving or disapproving the membership of the consumer/user, notifying an approved member of approval to use the prescreening unique user name which automatically serve as the e-mail address of the member for the user coupon program and password for accessing the interactive online database system. The e-mail provided through registration is not limited to the user coupon program but can be use as any regular e-mail address. The unique user name is also referred to as assigned identification mark and unique means that the prescreen name provided does not already exist in the IODS. The password are letters and or numbers maintained by a consumer/user in his/her memory that should be supplied whenever the unique user name is used. A consumer/user applicant may elect not to apply online. The above information may be processed through the telephone or by mail or other equivalent means. For the latter, the applicant fills up an application form containing all prescreening, financial, directory and any other requested information such as a copy of a valid driver's license and a copy of a telephone statement and sends these to the administrator of the service center or provider maintaining the interactive online database system. The interactive online system in turn perform the same operation stated above and subsequent communication between consumer/user and the administrator may be done online using the e-mail address provided by the user coupon program upon registration if the user has a terminal, by phone, facsimile transmission or by mail. The IODS is activated only when the provided unique user name and the password matches.[0012]

A preferred provider's coupon proposed by the claimed invention for used with the above claimed methods includes aside from the product information, the following information: name of the member consumer/user and the name of the spouse, if requested, e-mail address, date of issuance or printing of the coupon, a blank space to fill in date of purchase, a blank space to write in the initial of the member consumer/user, a blank space to write in the personal account and/or check number if paying by check, coupon value, expiration date, sales order number, provider's barcode, unique membership identification number, instructions to cashier to check identification and to accept purchases only with a credit card payment method or by personal check, mailing address of the administrator for the service center or provider where the retailer can submit used member consumer/user coupons for reimbursement and a unique encrypted serial number, if desired. The printing of the member consumer/user name in the provider's coupon is a must for the hybrid method to enable the security measures. This enables the retailer to match the name of the member consumer/user with the name on the credit card or personal bank check to prevent consumer fraud. The service center certification mark generally includes sales order number, coupon value, expiration date, provider's barcode, instructions, mailing address of administrator and the date of issuance or printing of the coupon. The service center identification mark general includes the member customer/user name, e-mail address, unique membership identification number, date of purchase, customer's initials, personal check number, and optionally, a unique encrypted serial number.[0015]

For electronic coupons, all of the preferred information can be easily printed on the provider's coupon much like a personal check. For third party coupons without the above printed information on the coupon and for those issued by other than the system herein, these may be used by separately entering, punching in, and imprinting the above preferred information by the IODS at the point of sale using the retailer's remote terminal, such as an electronic card programmer, once a consumer/user agrees to sign up for membership which follows the same membership application process as described above. A member consumer/user can also use third party coupons and need not sign up again for membership.[0016]

For current printed and online third party generated provider coupons, collectively referred to as third party coupon, the method of issuance and reimbursement of these coupons comprise the steps of bringing and presenting the third party coupon by a consumer/user to a retailer; scanning the third party coupon by the retailer; signing up for membership by the consumer/user; entering a service center assigned identification mark and a consumer/user password into an interactive online database of a service center or a provider, the interactive online database checking its database to verify the assigned identification mark and password, tying the assigned mark and password to the member consumer/user, approving or disapproving the use of the third party coupon by the member consumer/user; entering a sale or a plurality of sale of a product by the retailer; validating payment of the sale by a credit card or a personal bank check; imprinting a service center certificate and identification marks on a surface of the third party coupon; forwarding a number of gathered imprinted third party coupons generated from the sale or plurality of sale of the product to the service center; scanning, decoding and validating of the third party coupons forwarded by the retailer; identifying fraudulent coupons from legitimate coupons; preparing a coupon validation report by the service center; forwarding the coupon validation report and the gathered third party coupon to the provider; reviewing the coupon validation report and the imprinted third party coupons by the provider; and, reimbursing the retailer for the amount of the desired coupons.[0017]

In the above methods, if allowed by the provider, the retailer can also be the consumer, in which case the same identification mark or user name is entered for the issuance of the coupon and for crediting the coupon amount which the provider later reimburses. These methods provide an audit trail which verifies a user, prevents a consumer/user from printing or using the same coupon beyond the allowable number for each user, requires a verifiable purchase, and credits the retailer/user only with verified purchases.[0018]

With this system, a counterfeit coupon will not hurt the provider because there is an internal check for the number of usage and more importantly, credit is given only after a bonafide purchase. In lieu of on line real time check approval, payment by check can be validated by a member consumer/user presenting a picture identification such as a valid driver's license to the retailer/user.[0019]

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

FIG. 1 is a hardware schematic of the coupon issuance and redemption system.[0020]

FIG. 2 is a schematic view of the membership process.[0021]

FIG. 3 is a schematic of a real time online coupon issuance, redemption and verification process.[0022]

FIG. 4 is a schematic of a hybrid process for the issuance, redemption and verification of a coupon.[0023]

FIG. 5 is an example of a provider's coupon.[0024]

FIG. 6 is a schematic of a process for adapting a fraud deterrent measure into a third party coupon.[0025]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The fraud deterred coupon issuance and redemption system utilizes an interactive[0026]

online database system

1, IODS as shown in FIG. 1, which is a sophisticated combination of three subsystems, the Internet web site programs andIODS web servers2; the database programs andIODS database servers3; and,servers4 for the various work stations programmed to perform the respective work station's specific operations or tasks. The Internet web site program is a user friendly interface web site program designed and developed to allow users, providers and retailers and visitors to interact with and obtain information from the IODS database server, display information and data, enable the online membership sign-up or registration process, selection of coupon and viewing the history of coupon issuance and printing. The database program, like any database program, allows input, storage and output of data. It can operate on the data such as encryption and auto-numbering, and maintain a data history on the status of the accounts, sales order, performance of each promotion and the issuance and redemption of the coupons. The work station programs, ran onserver4, manages the specific functions of the work station in a level of desired security. The functions of the work stations include but is not limited to enter, scan, validate, store, approve, disapprove, archive, process and present data related to the verification of a coupon, a retailer or a consumer. These subsystems all work together to input or enter data, retrieve data, store data, create data, code and decode data, encrypt data, secure data, analyze data, process data, validate data, verify data, record and report data, display data, match data, update data, provide printable data, control access of data, for the providers, member consumer/user, and retailer/users, these functions used, integrated and identified in the claimed methods. TheIODS1 can be adapted to connect with as many remote terminals as needed to allow interactive communication between the various terminals and the IODS. The interconnection is preferably done through a modem to a commercial source for accessing a network, such as the Internet, using a browser or by direct access from a bulletin board system. However, other means of connection such as through fiber optics, other electrical types of connection or wireless methods may be employed. While the IODS is designed to be able to communicate without restrictions with the remote terminals, theIODS1 discriminates and limits accessibility of the individual terminals to the data stored within the IODS as well as limits accessibility of one terminal to access data stored in another terminal. TheIODS1 is set up to allow the interaction between the provider'scomputer5 with theweb server2 so that the provider can input, view and secure data from theIODS database server3. TheIODS system administrator10 controls all updates and activities of the system and confirms and validate the data coming from the provider'scomputer5 before it is made available for display to the member consumer/user'scomputer6. All IODS database servers, work stations, network of computers and accessories are secured behind afirewall7. The work stations generally are thedata entry stations8 for inputting data about the member users and providers; and, the coupon scanning andvalidation processing stations9 which collect the data on the returned coupons. All data entry, coupon scanning and validation of returned coupons are carefully validated by thesystem administrator10 before they are uploaded to thecentral database11 withinserver4. At a selected period of time, theadministrator10 validates the data in the central database before it is fed to theIODS database server3. Ahistory database12 archives outstanding coupon data to reduce the database size on all the database servers and their back-ups. Both the IODS database server and the central database server are backed up by real

time mirror servers

3A and11A, respectively.

The security measures built into the claimed process require that a user should first register as a member/user of the user coupon program described herein.[0027]

A. Consumer/User Validation Process

A first time consumer/user[0028]13 (not shown) who wants to become a registered member as shown in FIG. 2, must enter in14 from his/her user terminal orcomputer6, a prescreening unique user name, a password, and any other requested information, collectively referred to as prescreening information, to a provider16 (not shown) or service center22 (not shown) having theIODS1. If the user name selected is unique, theIODS1 preferably, will check15 the consumer/user'scomputer6 to determine the number of registered accounts created from thesame computer6, usually traced by its e-mail address, using for example, a serverlet cookie technology. If the number of existing accounts created exceeds the limit of accounts per terminal allowed by a coupon provider16, theIODS1 will inform the consumer/user13 on the reason for rejecting17 the application, and will also be prompted18 to contact a representative via e-mail or other means for assistance. After theIODS1 determines that there are no problem with the consumer/user prescreening qualification, theIODS1 will prompt the consumer/user to enter in19 additional financial and directory information pertaining to the validation of a personal payment card, including but not limited to the type of payment card, expiration date, payment card number, first and last name, address and zip code, and telephone number. All forms and types of payment card are referred herein as credit card, the name commonly associated by a user for these types of payment. TheIODS1 will verify20 the financial and directory information provided through the financial institution's database and permit only a specified number of accounts using a specific credit card number. If the IODS rejects23 the creation of an account based on the additional information supplied, theIODS1 will prompt the consumer/user of the reason for rejecting the application, and will advise the consumer/user to contact a representative via e-mail or other means for assistance. If the consumer/user is not comfortable in supplying credit card information online, or does not have a credit card, the consumer/user may elect to print out and fill-up an application form with all the requested information, and submit this to the provider16 or the service center22, along with a copy of a valid driver's license, and a copy of a current telephone statement. The above information may also be supplied through the telephone. If there is no problem with the application as determined with the steps described above, the provider16 or preferably the service center22 housing theIODS1 manually or online creates an account for the consumer/user. The service center22 approves the membership and notifies24 the applicant via e-mail or through other forms of communication that his/her supplied unique user name is the same as his/her identification mark and will open an e-mail address with the same unique user name for the member user. For a purely manual registration application, an applicant will undergo the same process except that the information and feedback will be done through telephone, facsimile transmission or by mail.

B. Real Time Online Coupon Issuance and Redemption

A real time online method for coupon issuance and redemption as shown in FIG. 3 is herein described. A provider[0029]16, desiring to issueproduct coupons25, either independently or through the aid of a service center22, makes a certain number of coupon available to the consuming market. Product manufacturer and Service Provider16 provides industry data including and not limited to coupon redemption value, product image, offer code, begin promotional date, expiration date, coupon barcode, maximum number of coupon independently or preferably to be issued/printed per geographical zone (DMA) and instruction relating to the use of the coupon to a service center22 also herein referred to as coupon issuer. These data will be inputed into an interactive online database (IODS)system1, and after an online or manual verification of the inputed data by theadministrator10, theIODS1 will display coupons from the providers16 to the member consumer/users26 through the Internet.

The process starts with a member consumer/user[0030]26 connecting27 online to theIODS1, and providing28 a resident zip code number. Thesystem1 will display29 the available coupons on the screen of the member/user6 terminal. Member/user represents both consumer and retailer while consumer/user pertains only to the consumer and not the retailer. Member consumer/user is a consumer/user who was approved for membership. The member consumer/user will be prompted to select31 acoupon25 from the display of a selection of coupons based on their geographical location. The display will also indicate the number of coupons available for selection by the member consumer/user. A registered member of the IODS enters32 his/her user name also referred to as assigned identification mark and password forverification33 by theIODS1. Once verified for its validity, theIODS1 will issue34 aunique coupon25 preferably with an encrypted serial number to the member consumer/user's remoteuser computer terminal6. A valid user name and password mean that theIODS1 has checked its database and verified the client assigned identification mark and password, tied the assigned identification mark to the member consumer/user, and that the user has not requested the same coupon at an earlier time. The member consumer/user may only obtain one unique coupon per product or service, as theIODS1 will not issue a second unique coupon from the same provider's promotion for the same product or service to the same member consumer/user. TheIODS1 may also issue according to the provider's instructions, a designated number of provider's coupons for a household larger than two. In a paper printed coupon, the above steps are accomplished with the distribution of the providers' coupons through known marketing media. If the user name and/or password is not valid, the member consumer/user is advised by theIODS1 to contact36 the provider or service center representative. The member consumer/user redeems37 the coupon online and transmits38 the provider coupon to a retailer remote terminal orcomputer39 along with an order for the product before the printed expiration date. At the retail store's terminal orcomputer39 the retailer/user40 (not shown) enters41 a sale or a plurality of sale and communicates the sale to the financial institution for validation andapproval42. Once approved by the financial institution, the latter prints out online at the retailer'sterminal39, a confirmation number which is forwarded43 online to theIODS1 at either the provider or service center site by the retailer/user along with his/her retailer/user identification number. TheIODS1

records

44 online, the sale on the retailer/user' account held at the service center or provider and immediately credits45 the retailer/user with the corresponding amount indicated on the provider's coupon. After a period indicated by the provider or service center, theIODS1 reimburses the retailer/user by printing46 out a check for the outstanding amount of credit due to the retailer/user and mailing this or transmitting47 a check to the retailer/user terminal which the retailer/user can print at his/her terminal. After reimbursement, theIODS1

updates

48 its records. All these activities are stored in theIODS1. Maintenance of this record is on real time interactivity, meaning, the data or information is immediately entered and modified after every credit and reimbursement.

A purely online process may not be feasible for some retailers with less sophisticated terminals and network connection such that some form of a hybrid process is resorted to.[0031]

C. Hybrid Coupon Issuance and Redemption

The initial steps of the process is the same as the real time online process described above. The numbering of the same steps will be maintained so that those steps that differ will be differentiated by the use of a different number.[0032]

In the above processes, the retailer can also be the consumer, if allowed by the provider. In the real time online process, the same assigned identification mark or user name is entered both for the issuance of the coupon and credit of the coupon amount which the provider later reimburses.[0034]

D. Provider's Coupon

While current printed and electronic coupons[0035]82 (not shown) may be adapted to the security systems of the claimed invention, a preferred provider'scoupon25 as shown in FIG. 5 contains aside from theproduct information65, the following information: name of theuser66 and name of spouse, if requested, date of printing or issuance67 a blank space to fill in date ofpurchase68, a blank space to write in the initial of themember consumer69,coupon value70,barcode71, unique encryptedserial number72, uniquemembership identification number73, instruction to cashier to checkidentification74, and to accept purchases only with a credit card payment method or bypersonal bank check75, ablank space76 where the member consumer/user writes in his/her account and or check number,coupon expiration date77, mailing address for redemption ofcoupon78, sales order number of thepromotion79 and thee-mail address80 issued to the member/user upon registration.

For electronic coupons, all of the preferred information above can be easily printed on the provider's coupon much like a personal check. For third party coupons without the above printed information on the coupon, these may be adapted to the claimed system and used by separately entering or punching in the same requested membership information to the[0036]

IODS

1 with theIODS1 imprinting the supplied information on the third party coupon82 once the sale is validated. This is done at the point of sale using the retailer'sremote terminal39, once a consumer/user agrees to sign up for membership which may be done from the retailer'sterminal39. The same membership application process as described above is followed. For a member/user using a third party coupon, the same steps are followed except that a member/user simply enters his/her user name and password on the retailer's remote terminal orcomputer39 or on other devices at the retailer's premises such as an electric card programmer.

E. Fraud Deterrent Process for Third Party Coupon

For current traditional paper printed and/or online third party generated provider coupons, collectively referred to as third party coupon, the method of issuance and reimbursement of these coupons as shown in FIG. 6, starts with the[0037]

presentation

81 of the third party coupon82 to a retailer. The retailer scans83 the coupon for validity and if the consumer/user desires to use the coupon, he/she is allowed to do so if he/she agrees to sign up84 for membership or if he/she is already a member. The membership process is the same as that described in A above. If membership is approved, the service center allows the member consumer/user26 to immediately start using the assigned identification mark or user name with his/her password. As in the process above, the member consumer/user enters85 the assigned identification mark and his/her consumer/user password into an interactive online database system,IODS1 of a service center or a provider, theIODS1 checking its database to verify86 the assigned identification mark and password. TheIODS1 verifies the member consumer/user by tying the assigned mark and password to the member consumer/user. TheIODS1 approves87 or disapproves88 the use of the third party coupon by the member consumer/user. Once the member consumer/user is approved, the sale or sales of the product is entered89 by the retailer who then validates90 the payment of the sale by a credit card or a personal bank check by first matching the user name on the coupon with the name on the credit card or personal bank check and submitting91 the sale to the respective financial institutions who will notify92 the retailer either on line or through the phone whether the payment is good. When the payment is honored, the retailer imprints93 the service center certificate and identification marks on the surface of the third party coupon. From this step, the process proceeds as in section C above, from the step commencing with the gathering and forwarding of the coupon to the service center22, but in this case imprinted third party coupons82 instead of thepreferred provider coupon25 are submitted for reimbursement.

While the embodiments of the present invention have been described, it should be understood that various changes, adaptations, and modifications may be made therein without departing from the spirit of the invention and the scope of the claims.[0038]

Claims

I claim:

1. A method to deter consumer/user and retailer fraud on a third party coupon for a provider requiring membership prior to issuance and redemption of the coupon, comprising the steps of:

a) bringing and presenting a printed third party coupon by a consumer/user to a retailer;

b) scanning the third party coupon by the retailer;

c) signing up for membership by the consumer/user;

d) entering an assigned identification mark and a member consumer/user password into an interactive online database of a service center or a provider, the interactive online database checking its database to verify the assigned identification mark and password, tying the assigned identification mark and password to a member consumer/user, is approving or disapproving the use of the third party coupon by the member consumer/user;

e) entering a sale or a plurality of sale of a product by the retailer only if payment is made by credit card or a personal bank check;

f) validating payment of the sale by a credit card or a personal bank check;

g) imprinting on the surface of the third party coupon, certificate and identification marks including at least, name of the member consumer/user and proof of sale; and,

h) forwarding a number of gathered imprinted third party coupons generated from the sale or plurality of sale of the product to a service center.

2. The method ofclaim 1 further comprising the steps of

a) scanning, decoding and validating the third party coupons forwarded by the retailer;

b) identifying fraudulent coupons from legitimate coupons;

c) preparing a coupon validation report by the service center;

d) forwarding the coupon validation report and the gathered third party coupon to the provider;

e) reviewing the coupon validation report and the imprinted third party coupons by the provider; and,

f) reimbursing the retailer for the amount of the desired coupons.

3. The method ofclaim 1 further comprising the step of auditing the retailer for potential coupon fraud.

4. The method ofclaim 1 wherein the proof of sale is an approved payment made on an entry of sale through a credit card or personal bank check.

5. The method ofclaim 1 wherein the information imprinted on the surface of the third party coupon further includes date of purchase and the member consumer/user initial.

6. The method ofclaim 1 wherein the information imprinted on the provider coupon further includes an e-mail address.

7. The method ofclaim 1 wherein the information imprinted on the provider coupon further includes a member consumer/user spouse's name.

8. The method ofclaim 1 wherein the information imprinted on the provider coupon further includes a unique encrypted serial number.

9. The method ofclaim 1 wherein the method is insurable.

10. A method to deter consumer/user and retailer fraud on a third party coupon for a provider not requiring membership prior to issuance and redemption of the coupon, comprising the steps of:

a) bringing and presenting a printed third party coupon by a consumer/user to a retailer having the consumer/user's name imprinted on the third party coupon;

b) scanning the third party coupon by the retailer;

c) entering a sale or a plurality of sale of a product by the retailer only if payment is made by credit card or a personal bank check;

d) validating payment of the sale by a credit card or a personal bank check by matching the name imprinted on the third party coupon with the name on the credit card or personal bank check;

e) imprinting on the surface of the third party coupon a proof of sale; and,

f) forwarding a number of gathered imprinted third party coupons generated from the sale or plurality of sale of the product to a service center.

11. The method ofclaim 10 further comprising the steps of

b) identifying fraudulent coupons from legitimate coupons;

c) preparing a coupon validation report by the service center;

f) reimbursing the retailer for the amount of the desired coupons.

12. The method ofclaim 10 wherein the proof of sale is a validation and approval of sale by a card provider or if payment by a personal bank check, a check number or a bank account number or both.

13. The method ofclaim 10 wherein the information imprinted on the surface of the third party coupon further includes a date of purchase and the consumer/user initial.

14. The method ofclaim 10 wherein the information imprinted on the provider coupon further includes an e-mail address.

15. The method ofclaim 10 wherein the information imprinted on the provider coupon further includes a unique encrypted serial number.