Typically a guest will report getting multiple punch errors when they attempt to scan more than the number of receipts set by your business rules. This error is based on receipt time of the check.
The 'check-in rate limit' (configured in Dashboard's back end Cockpit settings) controls this feature. If it is set up is for a maximum of 1 check-in per 8-hour visit period, when a guest attempts to check-in more than one receipt (generated within 8 hours) this error will be displayed regardless of when the receipts are scanned.
The guest time-line will look similar to the snippet below.
Consider this an example:
Receipt (Dated: Mar 25, 2019) with Barcode "5430609275014" generated at 02:49:00 pm, the user scans it and receives points for it.
Then user scans a new receipt (Dated: Mar 25, 2019) with Barcode "5804364359836" which was generated on 02:51:00 pm.
The second receipt will send a "Multiple Punching" message because the check-in rate is set to 1 visit per 24 hours.
The guest will continue to get this error no matter what time they try to re-scan. The message is displaying because the second receipt was generated 10 minutes after the first. It has nothing to do with the time the guest scans.
Note the highlighted portion in yellow will show the Period and Last Check-in time of the approved loyalty.