NEWSPAPER HELP URGED IN ANTI-FRAUD CAMPAIGN

RICHARD TURCSIK

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Manufacturers should urge the newspapers in which they place coupons to join the Coupon Distribution Verification Service in an effort to combat coupon fraud.

CDVS is run by the Schaumburg, Ill.-based Audit Bureau of Circulations, which was founded in 1914 by advertisers, advertising agencies and publishers to verify circulation rates of publications. CDVS is supported by manufacturers, coupon companies, agencies, redemption centers and about 190 newspapers. The mission of CDVS is to continue to develop and maintain procedures, audits and industry reports to verify the accuracy of coupon distribution activities in North America, said Mark Stoecklin, manager of newspaper marketing at ABC.

"We want this to be a living, breathing document. What was pertinent in 1979 [when CDVS was founded], may or may not be in 1995," Stoecklin said when he spoke at last month's Grocery Manufacturers of America's Coupon Management Conference here.

"Our mission is prevention. Our goal is to stop fraud before it has a chance to get going. When the Coupon Information Corp. gets involved, fraud has already happened," he added.

CDVS hopes to eliminate coupon fraud by extending coupon distribution audits to all newspapers in North America and other auditable coupon distribution methods to ensure the greatest credibility for the coupon distribution process.

"We literally go in and track the coupon from the time it is received at the publisher's loading dock until the time it is actually destroyed," Stoecklin said.

He said CDVS is currently working on eliminating fraud at the paper recycling end of the business.