Tesco is said to be cracking down on a viral social media trend that shoppers have been using to bag baskets of free sweets at the checkout.
The supermarket is said to have been made aware of the 'hack' that shoppers have been using to cheat their way around a coupon to pick up sweets at the self-service tills.
Known as the "Tesco Method", the trick was shared multiple times on TikTok where hundreds of videos saw shoppers picking up some staple bags of sweets for free and sharing how others could do the same.
The trend is said to have originated from a customer complaint and was supposed to have only been used once, reports The Liverpool Echo.
However, the voucher managed to make the rounds on social media, where hundreds of shoppers began screen-grabbing the barcode that allowed others to take advantage of the discount.
Now, the supermarket chain has taken steps to ban the social media hack, but thousands have already taken advantage of it.
Shoppers began taking to TikTok and Twitter to share their spoils, with some picking up packets of Maltesers, Fruit Pastilles, Starbursts and more completely free of charge at the self-service till.
Savings expert Holly Smith, also known as the coupon Queen, has since warned shoppers not to use trick, as it is technically seen as "coupon fraud".
She said: "This coupon was never meant to be shared publicly because it is unique to that one person.
“At the end of the day when Tesco empty their self-checkout and they send all the coupons up to the manufacturer to get £1 back for each bag purchased, the manufacturer scans this barcode.
“Now if the barcode has been used once already, the manufacturer will not pay out Tesco any more than the £1.”
The money-saving expert also warned customers that using the coupon fraud hack could then result in them being banned from supermarkets as it is "basically stealing".
It is understood Tesco is aware of the issue and is implementing a fix which prevents the use of the coupon trick.
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