Software

Burger King just sent spam receipts to customers

Have it your way – whether you want it or not


Updated Burger King has just served spam to many of its customers, who have complained they received an emailed receipt to advise them of a non-existent order for no food.

The tweet below is a typical example the receipt and the reaction.

Plenty of other netizens have wondered if the emails are an indication of a security incident at the burger-slinging outfit and, if so, whether their personal information is at risk along with their health.

The Register is aware of customers in the USA and UK receiving the mail, but it is unclear if the source of the unwanted messages is BK HQ, or an outpost.

Our team has grilled Burger King about the situation to learn how the spam came to be served and, critically, if a security compromise was the cause.

We will update this story if we receive a substantive reply.

The mail storm caps a bad few days for BK's owner, Restaurant Brands International. Another of its brands – Canadian coffee shop and restaurant chain Tim Hortons – last week settled a privacy lawsuit filed after it improperly collected customers' location data.

Supersizing its sins with a second helping of data-related drama would not go down well.

Just like the chain's signature burgers without prior lubrication. ®

Updated at 10:40 PM UTC August 9th Burger King has sent us the following statement:

We are aware of the issue, which was the result of an internal processing error.

We've asked for the company to offer some fries with that - sorry, offer a specific response to our questions about security and privacy. We will update this story if we receive a substantive response.

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