KFC reveals 'head office' con artist is 'fake news'

man eating KFC
The original rumour claimed the man ate free KFC for over a year. Photo credit: File.

Social media has been abuzz the last 24 hours with reports that a South African student managed to score free KFC for a year by posing as an inspector from head office.

But the fast food chain has quashed the claims, tweeting that the story is nothing but "fake news".

It was alleged in the viral rumour that the 27-year-old was reported to have told KFC workers he was carrying out "quality checks", while wearing an ID card from head office.

According to South African news site Xpouzar, the man's friend was a part-time limo driver and would drop him off in style to every KFC he'd visit. Despite the news being untrue, somehow Xpouzar 'interviewed' a KFC employee who said the act was "convincing".

"When he came in, he rushed to the kitchen and checked everything, taking notes and then asked for samples of whatever he wanted. He probably worked for KFC before, because he knows everything," the article quotes the employee as saying.

However, the official South Africa KFC Twitter account replied to a tweet about the story on Wednesday saying "We'd give him all of the props if it were true but unfortunately it isn't, cause this is fake news," followed by a face-palm emoji.

In a follow up tweet, the account wrote "Fake is as good as this story gets. As legendary as it would be we can confirm that this is false. We haven't kept the secret recipe 'secret' for this long, only to be duped by a student."

Those that were fooled by the viral story excitedly praised the fictional scheme online, calling the man a "legend".

Newshub.