Fast food giant McDonald’s is the victim of a hoax after a £65,900 bid on burger sauce turned out to be fake.
The chain was auctioning off the 740ml bottle of Big Mac sauce – the only one available in the UK – to raise money for charity.
Anything made from the sale of the infamous condiment was planned to go towards Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC), which provides free accommodation for families when their children are in hospital.
After a bidding war with more than 400 offers on online auction site e-bay, the sale closed with a whopping £65,900 as the top bid.
But the restaurant has now confirmed that the bid was in fact too good to be true, yet a spokesman said they were still hoping to have raised ‘over £65,000’.
Steve Howells, head of marketing at the McDonald’s said: “It really captured the public’s imagination and we’re hoping to have raised over £65,000 for RMHC.”
With 40 plus bids tendered for more than £50,000, head office is now in the process of contacting the next top bids, in an attempt find out if any offer was genuine.
A spokesman added: “We’ve been working with eBay to make sure we’re weeding out the fake bids – it’s such a shame but we’re really confident we’ve raised a lot of money for RMHC.”
The sauce – available in a burger at any outlet – will be delivered to a mystery new owner complete with a novelty dispenser and a voucher for a free burger.
The auction ran from February 3 until February 10, and McDonald's confirmed they have no plans to sell off any more in the near future.
