The McDonald’s character portrayed as a thief who wanted to steal hamburgers was the Hamburglar.
The Hamburglar was one of the best-known characters in McDonaldland, McDonald’s fictional advertising setting. His design and personality centered on hamburgers: he wore a distinctive striped outfit and repeatedly tried to take them, usually while being stopped or exposed.
The character changed visually over the years. Early versions looked more like a small masked adult, while later advertising presented him as a younger, childlike figure. Despite those redesigns, his hamburger-stealing role remained the central idea.
The Hamburglar is sometimes confused with Captain Crook, another McDonaldland character associated with food theft. Captain Crook was linked specifically with Filet-O-Fish sandwiches, while the Hamburglar targeted hamburgers.