‘McMillions’: How ex-cop orchestrated $24 million McDonald’s Monopoly scam

nypost.com ^ | February 1, 2020 | Michael Kaplan

[lowbridge]

In 1987, McDonald’s launched an ingenious sweepstakes based on the game of Monopoly. Customers would purchase sandwiches, fries, drinks, etc., that included peel-off game pieces on the packaging — potentially rewarding them with anything from a Filet-O-Fish to a new car to $1 million. People went wild for it and business spiked by 40 percent for the fast-food giant, which kept it up for years.

But it wasn’t all happy meals.

“It seemed like an opportunity for ordinary people to get ahead, but there were consequences,” said Brian Lazarte, co-director of the HBO docu-series “McMillion$,” premiering Monday, about the contest. In fact, some 50 people would be convicted for cheating.

Blame a man named “Uncle” Jerry Jacobson, who orchestrated a fraud that ran for 12 years and scammed some $24 million from the Monopoly promotion.

Jacobson was an ex-cop-turned-security guard who worked for Los Angeles-based Simon Marketing, which oversaw the contest behind the scenes. Part of his job was to deliver the high-ticket tokens — for cash prizes up to $1 million — to a factory where they were ­affixed to food packaging. One day, in 1989, Jacobson pocketed a prize piece for $25,000 and replaced it with a dud.

But, of course, he wasn’t eligible to cash it in himself. So he gave it to his stepbrother, Marvin Braun, and struck a deal: Braun would turn it in and they would quietly split the money. The scheme worked.

[fella]

Makes me wonder if the Power Ball and Mega-Millions are rigged.

[TangoLimaSierra]

...count me as one of those idiots...

Me too. At least we aren't smug pricks.