Thousands rush to take advantage of Sainsbury’s TikTok voucher error | Personal Finance | Finance
Sainsbury’s is at the centre of a Tiktok voucher issue which has seen shoppers slash hundreds of pounds from their bills. A number of TikTok and other social media accounts have been sharing copies of a money off coupon which is understood to have appeared on the supermarket’s app.
Dubbed ‘the Sainsbury’s method’ it is reported that shoppers are using a screenshot of the voucher repeatedly at self-service tills with the result they have paid just pennies for their purchases.
One shopper took to X to boast they had been sent over one of the vouchers adding “by 10pm I’m back in the house with £441 worth of shopping for £6”.
They posted an image of his haul, which include pizzas, toilet paper, milk, fruit juices and laundry products.
Another person complained: “This whole Sainsbury’s method thing is so annoying because people got greedy and was buying stupidness.”
TikTok accounts are sharing videos of the “coupon hack” in action, according to The Grocer.
In one, a shopper is seen having a row with a Sainsbury’s member of staff who is trying to stop them using the voucher by arguing it is a fraud.
The shopper tells them: “If it’s a frauded coupon how is it on the Sainsbury’s app?”.
The encounter gets heated as the shopper states: “I’m recording for my safety and your safety” adding “if you touch me, I’m gonna knock you out”.
Several TikTok accounts are requesting followers add them on social platform Discord or Snapchat so they can be sent the reusable coupon, sometimes in exchange for payment.
It is understood the coupons are also being shared via WhatsApp with a step-by-step guide on how to carry out the cheat.
The supermarket said the misuse of the genuine coupon was being compounded by a rise of coupons that had been “generated fraudulently”.
A spokeswoman said: “We have seen an increase in fraudulent coupons in our stores and we have processes in place to detect and block them.
“We also have in-store detectives monitoring for fraudulent attempts and we are working closely with the police on this issue.”
She added: “We continue to accept genuine coupons and vouchers.”
A special alert has been sent to store staff making them aware of the cheat, as well as notices put up in stores.
The coupons that end up being shared on social media are being blocked by the supermarket – but there is a lag in updating the system.
Last year, Tesco was hit with a similar coupon “hack” in which fraudulent coupons could be used to repeatedly take money off orders at self-checkouts.
It is understood the till total could be run into minus figures, and the machine would dispense cash to the shopper. The cheat could only be used on machines running older software, which have since been updated.
More recently, The Grocer said that a hoax Tesco ‘cheat’ coupon has been spread on social media saying users will get £9.50 off their shop if they swipe an attached QR code.
However, rather than reduce the total amount, the QR code instead adds an item to their on-screen basket: a Lovehoney Frisky Rabbit Vibrator. Shoppers using the fake coupon then need to get a member of store staff to remove the item from their on-screen basket.
