Students Jailed After Getting £22,000 Worth Of Free Chicken Through KFC 'Loophole' (2024)

A group of Chinese students who took advantage of a loophole in KFC's app have been jailed for fraud after indulging in over £22,000 worth of free chicken.

A student, who has been named locally as Xu, from Jiangsu province, discovered the loophole after spotting a glitch in the chicken chain’s chain's app back in 2018.

Xu discovered that the bug allowed users to switch between the app and KFC’s official Weibo account, generating an unlimited number of free food vouchers.

According to Chinese media outlet The Paper, Xu was apparently 'overjoyed' when he discovered the loophole, and after accessing more free chicken than he could eat himself, his entrepreneurial senses began tingling and he effectively set up his own small business, selling it on to other students.

As well as this, Xu also confided his discovery in four friends, showing them the loophole and explaining how to use it.

According to The Paper, Xu cost KFC's Chinese parent company Yum China Holdings, approximately 58,000 yuan (£6,400) in six months, while the other four helped themselves to between 8,900 yuan (£980) and 47,000 yuan (£5,190) each.

After finally being detected, the group were arrested for fraud with a Chinese court finding all five guilty.

According to the court papers, the ruling stated: "Being fully aware of this bug, the convicted deliberately engaged in false transactions and illegally profited from them, which constituted the crime of fraud."

According to The Paper, the group were aware that the App and self-service ordering system had a 'data out-of-synchronisation loophole, and they still conducted false transactions for the purpose of illegal possession and thus illegally obtained property'.

Because Xu shared the information with others after discovering the glitch, he was found to have committed a crime that would normally carry a five-year sentence.

However, the judge has shown some leniency to Xu, reducing his sentence to two-and-a-half years and a fine of 6,000 yuan (£660) as the student handed himself in, pleaded guilty and is reported to have paid KFC an undisclosed sum in compensation.

The other four students were given sentences between 15 months and two years in prison, as well as fines varying from 1,000 yuan (£110) to 4,000 yuan (£440) each.

As you can imagine the incident has caused a bit of a stir on social media in China, with some suggesting Xu’s punishment is deserved as he should’ve made KFC aware of the issue, whereas others reckon it’s the fast-food chain’s own fault for not spotting it themselves.

If you do fancy a KFC bargain, you can currently treat yourself to one of the Colonel’s famous 20 Hot Wing Buckets for just £5.99. This offer is available for KFC takeaway and drive-thru customers until July 4th.

But… Not only can you bag yourself what is already a bit of a bargain, those in the know can also combine it with another offer from Deliveroo!

Yep, every Wednesday, the food delivery company has 20% off a special Wings menu which includes the 20 Hot Wings Bucket, the KFC 6pc Wings meal and the 10pc Wings meal - epic.

Combining the two offers means you can treat yourself to the delicious 20 Hot Wings Bucket for under a fiver - £4.79 to be precise - which I think we can all agree is an absolute bargain.

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