Cheap burgers flip to costly subscription: thousands online baited by $2 Big Macs

Over 10,000 people in Romania were offered to play a game on Instagram and Facebook, and they must have thought they had won an amazing deal: only two bucks for a hamburger, cheeseburger, Big Mac, chicken burger, four portions of fries, and four Coca-Colas at McDonald’s.

A novel, too-good-to-be-true fast food bait and switch subscription scam drains users’ wallets. Scammers are buying ads promoting incredible McDonald’s deals, and luring social media users into very costly subscription scams, Bitdefender, a security firm, warns.

The researchers unveiled a massive scam campaign currently running in Romania, which already reached over 10,000 people.

In Facebook and Instagram ads, fraudsters offer “Triple Deal” menus for a symbolic 10 Romanian leu (around $2).

Users who click on them are provided with a simple three-question survey and then redirected to a click-style game in which they can win the purported prize from McDonald's, which gives the illusion of legitimacy and urgency.

But luck has nothing to do with an outcome – every user who engages with the ad is ultimately a “winner.”

“Instead of a cheap treat, the people who fall for it find themselves subscribed to a 63.42 Eur ($73) bi-weekly charge,” the Bitdefender analysts said in the report.

To receive their prize, victims have to complete a legitimate-looking form, which showcases fake positive customer reviews to boost trust. Only the very fine print details that users are enrolling in recurring charges every 14 days.

The scam campaign has been ongoing since July 17th. Researchers have already discovered at least six ad variants pushed across Meta’s platforms under the fake brand McDelight România, with similar scams already being promoted in Hungary and the Netherlands.

“Remember – no legitimate company will charge €63.42 every two weeks for a “free” meal,” Bitdefender warns.

To protect yourself from these scams, avoid entering payment information on suspicious promotional sites and be wary of fine print that may hide subscription fees. Report the ads to Meta, and if you suspect you’ve been compromised, contact your bank to block any unauthorized charges.