A podcast host revealed how he used ChatGPT to scam McDonald’s out of 100 free meals over nine months in 2023. Gage, co-host of All Things The Podcast, admitted to the “unlimited free McDonald’s hack” on air, explaining how he stole receipts, used AI to generate fake complaints, and redeemed corporate vouchers for free food. After a clip from the show resurfaced on YouTube in May 2024, it racked up 35,000 views and dozens of comments from viewers accusing him of risking the jobs and bonuses of minimum-wage employees who rely on positive reviews to keep their stores running.
“They’ve plastered posters up everywhere saying, ‘Please fill in the survey and put highly satisfied,’” he bragged.
Gage was confident that the scam “doesn’t harm anyone.” YouTubers disagreed in the comments, replying that it will harm workers.
“‘It doesn’t harm anyone.’ It will when McDonald’s shuts down that branch because it’s had thousands of bad reviews because someone is too cheap to buy a 99p burger,” commented @d4fm4n.
“It doesn’t harm anyone? It harms everyone involved”
Gage’s scam faced backlash among socially minded YouTubers.
“Someone supports their family with that job. You’re putting it at risk,” said @MrAlanevo.
“Cool, making all the employees earning minimum wage look bad to their employer for no reason at all,” commented @gotohellgoogle9248.
“It does harm everyone who works in the restaurant. Each receipt is time-stamped and also has someone’s name on it. Not to mention that score is factored into your overall score for the restaurant and will affect your bonuses for the whole management staff,” replied @greglewise2749. “This guy is an absolute clown.”
“It doesn’t harm anyone? It harms everyone involved. Shame on you, child,” said @bobgarder1369.
How does the McDonald’s ChatGPT scam work?
Gage detailed the process for perpetrating the scam to “All Things” listeners. He explained that would-be scammers need discarded McDonald’s receipts, an internet connection, and a prompt to pull it off.
First, he “steals receipts from tills or tables.” The next step is to access McDonald’s feedback surveys via the receipts’ unique codes. Fill out the surveys. Claim that you were “highly dissatisfied.”
Next, enlist ChatGPT to paint the picture for McDonald’s corporate:
Gage suggested using a prompt like, ‘Write about a time that I had a horrible experience at McDonald’s where I ordered a Big Mac and make it under 1,200 characters.’” He added—if ChatGPT’s sometimes-bogus feedback isn’t bad enough, prompt the bot to “make it worse.”
“You punch that in, fill in an email, boom. In, like, 12 hours, a representative will send you an email with one, two, or three or four meal vouchers completely for free.”
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