Five Chinese students have been jailed after one of them used a loophole in KFC’s app to order unlimited amounts of chicken for free.
23-year old Xu first discovered the glitch in 2018 when he found out he could effectively generate endless food vouchers by switching between KFC’s phone app and the company’s store on WeChat – China’s equivalent of WhatsApp.
This method allowed him to place an order using the voucher but it would also still remain in his account. Xu sold some of the meals at a reduced price to make profits, while also eating them himself.
He then shared the loophole with four of his friends and together, the five of them carried out fraud worth £15,000 of chicken before they were busted by police, according to Thepaper.cn.
After being caught by authorities, the group of friends admitted fraud. At a court in Shanghai this week, Xu was jailed for two and a half year and find £700 over the scheme. His friends were jailed for between two years and
The court said that between April to October in 2018, Xu caused losses worth £6,500 to KFC with his orders. His friends ordered food worth £1,000 and £5,200 each.