This Guy Scammed McDonald's For 100 Free Meals Using ChatGPT

mcdonald's
Man Scams McDonald's For Free Food With ChatGPTMichal Fludra/NurPhoto via Getty Images / All Things The Podcast
  • A podcast host explained how he used ChatGPT to scam McDonald's out of free meals.

  • All Things The Podcast co-host Gage used the AI chatbot to write fake complaints.

  • He said that he received up to four free meal vouchers from just one receipt survey.


People use the AI chatbots for all sorts of reasons, like improving a resume or getting help with homework. But apparently, ChatGPT can also be used to get free McDonald's. According to one podcaster and businessman, he's used it to scam McDonald's for free meals—and lots of them.

During a November 2023 taping of All Things The Podcast, co-host Gage offered a step-by-step breakdown on how he scammed McDonald's out of over 100 free meals. He revealed that the first step entails finding discarded receipts at a McDonald's location.

According to the podcaster, once you have a receipt, you'll need to check off "highly dissatisfied" on the receipt survey. Then you use ChatGPT to write a fake complaint.

"You just type in something like 'Write about a time that I had a horrible experience in McDonald's where I ordered a Big Mac. And make it under 1,200 characters.' Copy that. Paste it. It's usually really bad," he said.

Gage went on to add that he has received up to four free McDonald's meal vouchers from just one receipt survey.

And although he says no one has been harmed by this questionable hack, it's been met with a lot of pushback from people commenting on the video. Many expressed concern over the McDonald's location receiving numerous negative reviews.

"'It doesn't harm anyone.' It will when McDonald's shut down that branch because it's had thousands of bad reviews because someone it too cheap to buy a burger," one person pointed out.

Over a dozen people echoed their sentiment, with one user adding that "This is more sad than cool."

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