McDonald's warns of scam

The McDonald's restaurant chain is warning of an email scam offering $50 in McDonald's vouchers in exchange for credit card and address details.

A spokeswoman said the fraud had been tried about a month ago in a less polished and less widespread form.

It had re-emerged and was now more sophisticated - the authors had managed to spell New Zealand correctly.

The latest email asks people to click through to a website not linked to McDonald's.

McDonald's New Zealand has displayed a warning on its homepage, but all yesterday the website was inaccessible because of overloading.

The spokeswoman said some customers had been deceived and had submitted their credit card details.

She said McDonald's used reputable research companies and would never request customers' bank or credit card details.

"The source of the email scam is unknown, and it has been reported to the appropriate authorities," the spokeswoman said.

- NZPA