[Temptation Inside the Monitor] YouTube Scams
Illegal Gambling YouTubers Appearing in Searches for Powerball, Slots, etc.
MFDS Cracks Down on False and Exaggerated Advertising... But Fake Reviews Are Rampant
"Experts on duty 24/7, total revenue last year was 1.7 billion KRW." On the 4th, a YouTuber was conducting a gambling game called 'Powerball' during a live streaming broadcast. Powerball is a gambling game similar to Korea's Lotto, where you have to guess the numbers on the balls. He shared the gambling results every 5 minutes and informed viewers that he had won. Viewers cheered in the chat, shouting "Our family room all-kill," celebrating the profits. Whenever he made a profit, the YouTuber promoted the gambling site and his KakaoTalk open chat room, saying, "Stop wandering and settle down," and "I will share Powerball results in advance in the family room."
YouTube is a platform where illegal or false advertisement videos can be easily found just by searching. Numerous illegal gambling promotion videos are also posted on YouTube. According to YouTube’s policies, only videos linking to online gambling sites that comply with local laws by country can be uploaded, but this rule is often not followed. According to Korea’s Gambling Industry Integrated Supervision Committee Act, gambling is only allowed on online sites operated by state-designated trustees such as casinos, horse racing, and lotteries.
Searching for 'Powerball,' 'Power Ladder,' 'Slots,' or 'Baccarat' on YouTube reveals many YouTubers engaging in illegal gambling. They continuously guess gambling results correctly and promote the sites they gamble on. They also invite viewers to join their KakaoTalk open chat rooms or Telegram groups, promising to share secret methods. Some videos gained popularity quickly, exceeding 4,000 views within two hours of posting. These videos appear in search results without requiring adult accounts, making them easily accessible to teenagers.
False or exaggerated advertisements for food or medicine are also common content on YouTube. Most take the form of testimonials. These ads show people who have taken the food or medicine for a long time demonstrating their physical condition. For example, a diet supplement ad showed a person who gained weight but developed abs without any diet control, just by taking one pill. There were also testimonial-style ads claiming that even people past their growth period grew 5 to 10 cm taller after consistently taking the supplements and food. However, consumers have left many complaints on communities stating that they saw no effects despite long-term use of these products.
Authorities have designated 'false and exaggerated advertisements using fake testimonials' as targets for crackdown. Between 2020 and 2021, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) detected 155,377 cases of illegal online activities related to food and medicine. Despite the MFDS announcing measures this year to strengthen monitoring to prevent recurrence, enhance regulatory capabilities for online food and medicine safety management, and cooperate with investigative agencies, false and exaggerated advertisements continue to be rampant.
Sung Dong-gyu, a professor in the Department of Media Communication at Chung-Ang University, said, "YouTube itself needs to carry out a cleansing process to prevent videos containing illegal or false content from being uploaded to the platform," adding, "Although this may negatively affect revenue in the short term, it is a way to gain public trust and love in the long term."
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