A 23-year-old student who ordered £6,500 worth of free food after discovering a glitch in KFC’s online ordering system has been jailed.
The man, named as ‘Xu’ from China, managed to swindle free chicken after discovering a loophole in the fast-food giant’s voucher system, which he used for six months.
He also shared the secret with four friends who collectively took a combined total of £15,500 worth of food before they were caught.
Ordering a takeaway via KFC’s phone app, Xu was using a voucher in April 2018 when he discovered the glitch.
Xu was jailed for two and a half years and fined £700 while his friends were jailed for a period between 13 months and two years.
(Image: Barcroft Media via Getty Images)
Between April and October that year, he effectively managed to generate endless free food vouchers by switching between the KFC app and the company’s store on WeChat, China’s equivalent of WhatsApp.
Using this method, he found he could place an order using the voucher but it would also still remain in his account. Xu was using the hack to make money by selling on meals to friends.
Xu then sold on some of the meals for a cut-price to his classmates while also eating them himself.
His friends, who exploited the glitch in a similar fashion got away with free food worth between £1,000 and £5,200 each.
The group was eventually caught and they admitted committing fraud.
This week, at a court in Shanghai, Xu was jailed for two and a half years, while his friends were jailed for between two years and 13 months.