How one code becomes coupon fraud.
- 1
A private code gets out.
Extensions collect codes as shoppers type them. A December 2025 investigation alleged Honey gathered staff, VIP, influencer and newsletter codes this way and published them for everyone.
PPC Land, Dec 2025(opens the source)5M+
Microsoft Edge users run Capital One Shopping, before you count Chrome.
Microsoft Edge Add-ons, Oct 2026(opens the source) - 2
Extensions apply it for everyone.
The extension tries your code for every shopper running it, including people who would have paid full price. The order looks normal, and an affiliate on the click can earn commission too.
Modern Retail, May 2024(opens the source)54%
of US online shoppers look for discounts while browsing or at checkout.
Savings.com, Dec 2025(opens the source) - 3
AI agents guess the rest.
Agents shop for people and try codes as they go. The Agentic Commerce Protocol's draft discount spec says rate limiting should be applied to prevent discount code enumeration.
Agentic Commerce Protocol, Jan 2026(opens the source)59%
of 35,398 promo codes suggested by four leading AI assistants failed. Some were invented for stores that don't exist.
SimplyCodes, Sep 2026(opens the source) - 4
Then you pay to undo it.
Once a code is out, you honour it or cancel orders. In 2017, UGG cancelled orders placed with a code from an internal employee event that had reached the public.
NBC Connecticut, Dec 2017(opens the source)
What most teams try
- You could rely on your fraud app. Payment fraud tools look for stolen cards and chargebacks. A real shopper paying with their own card and a leaked code looks like a good order.
- You could delete the code. That leak stops, but the people you made the code for find it broken. The replacement can spread the same way.
- You could make every code single-use. Each copy costs one order at most. But a creator can't share one with an audience, and emailed codes can still be collected and passed on.
Or control codes where they're abused.
Benson finds your public codes and spots extensions and AI agents in the session. In extension sessions only the codes you allow work, agents get a cap on guesses, and a holdout shows what it saved.
