YouTube's Biggest Stars Are Pushing a Shady Polish Gambling Site

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Daily Beast: Untold riches are promised on Mystery Brand, a website that sells prize-filled 'mystery boxes.' If you buy one of the digital boxes, some of which cost hundreds of dollars, you might only get a fidget spinner -- or you might get a luxury sports car. For just $100, users can win a box filled with rare Supreme streetwear. For only $12.99, they can win a Lamborghini, or even a $250 million mega-mansion billed as 'the most expensive Los Angeles realty.' Or at least that's what some top YouTubers have been telling their young fans about the gambling site -- with the video stars apparently seeing that as a gamble worth taking, especially after a dip in YouTube advertising rates.

Over the past week, hugely popular YouTube stars like Jake Paul and Bryan 'Ricegum' Le have encouraged their fans to spend money on Mystery Brand, a previously little-known site that appears to be based in Poland. In their videos, Paul and Le show themselves betting hundreds of dollars on the site for a chance to open a digital 'box.' At first, they win only low-value prizes like fidget spinners or Converse sneakers. By the end of the video, though, they have won thousands of dollars worth of tech and clothing, like rare pairs of sneakers or Apple AirPods. If they like the prize, the YouTube stars have it shipped to their house. The gambling site doesn't list the owner or location where it's based, although the site's terms of service say it's 'subject to the laws and jurisdiction of Poland.' To make matters worse, users of the site might not even receive the items they believed they have won. 'During using the services of the website You may encounter circumstances in which Your won items will not be received,' the terms of service reads. Also, while the ToS say that underage users are ineligible to receive prizes, many of the YouTubers promoting the site have audiences who are underage. '[Jake Paul], for example, has acknowledged that the bulk of his fanbase is between 8 and 15 years old,' reports The Daily Beast.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.