Big Mac with a Side of Fraud

“I was laying in bed going through Reddit before I fall asleep, just killing time till I dozed off, and I stumbled upon an article or a tagline that was a TIL, ‘Today I learned nobody really won the McDonald’s Monopoly game’”

James Lee Hernandez (McMillions co-director)

HBO just released new 6-part docuseries called McMillions, in which it exposes the major fraud that was happening under America’s (and McDonald’s) noses from 1995-2000. The famous Monopoly promotion that was run throughout all McDonalds was offering winners million-dollar checks, cars, boats, you name it, but what nobody knew was that it was being rigged. An anonymous tip led the FBI to a trail of uncovered mysteries regarding the monopoly game that gave hope to many that they could be a lucky winner. Turns out, a man that went by the name of “Uncle Jerry” was stealing game pieces and selling them to relatives and friends, wrapping them into the $24 million-dollar scandal. McMillions co-director James Lee Hernandez, stumbled upon the story while scrolling through Redditt one evening and was curious why he has never heard of this until 2012… well that’s because it went to trial September 10, 2001 and was understandably buried in the news due to the horrific events the following day. But why does this matter? What’s the big deal stealing from a company like McDonalds and what does it say about us as a society?

“When I talked to the agents, they all said, ‘This is one of our favorite cases we ever worked, and no one’s ever contacted us about it,” “So at that point I knew I had something.”

James Lee Hernandez (McMillions co-director)

The series uncovers the many “winners” that obviously got just as ripped off as the rest of America. One woman who got a stolen game piece explains how Uncle Jerry took almost everything she had, which wasn’t much to begin with. By insisting the “winners” give the Italian mobster a huge chunk of the profits (before taxes) and constantly breathing down their necks asking for more, he changed their lives forever. This notion that people are so quick to accept money regardless of its consequences was shocking to me. It makes a statement about how in our society the “quick fix” is seen to be the perfect option and are willing to be involved with organized crime to fix our problems. Greed and selfishness are a driving factor for the fraud and scandal which is constantly happening around us, McMillions just brought it to light.