As the saying goes, there's no such thing as a free lunch — Happy Meals included.
Researchers at the security firm BitDefender have spotted scam messages appearing in email inboxes advertising free meals at the recipient's nearest McDonald's restaurant.
The messages, coming from several different @mcdonalds.com addresses read: "McDonald's invites you to The Free Dinner Day which will take place on 27 June, 2011, in every café of ours."
The menu on the free food day supposedly includes a Double Quarter Pounder with Cheese, Chicken Selects Premium Breast Strips, Side Salad, Vanilla Triple Thick Shake and McCafe Caramel Mocha.
But also on this alleged Golden Arches menu is a scam. The emails include what appears to be a Microsoft Word attachment that users are told to click in order to be eligible for the free meal.
The document is corrupted, and clicking on it automatically deploys a Trojan that redirects users to rigged Web pages that try to trick them into purchasing rogue anti-virus software.
If you come across unsolicited emails from McDonald's, ignore them, no matter how tempted you are.