UFC fans, keep your guard up. A recent scam has surfaced that promises millions, only to erase real dollars from your bank accounts. Raising buzz all over the internet, Dana White and the UFC have found themselves in the spotlight for their recent fight announcements. But that attention has morphed into a scary threat that could wipe out your bank account in a matter of seconds.

Leveraging the UFC boss’s credibility, a fake YouTube advertisement has raised alarms among cybersecurity experts. The ad features Dana White promising a fraudulent cryptocurrency giveaway to the viewers, directing them to a sketchy website. It only gets worse.

Fake Dana White ads lure you into crypto fraud

The YouTube ad begins like any other, with Dana White sitting with a GQ-enshrined laptop. Except everything feels off. White then asks you to visit ufcdana.com now or regret it—just the perfect setup for a clickbait swindle. The website adds a whole new dimension to the hoax.

The link opens to a page with Dana White and the title “300 BTC / 5,000 ETH Giveaway,” centered, which equates to roughly $27 million. Posing the giveaway as an early Christmas gift for the dedicated fanbase, the website writes: “Nothing comes close to what the UFC is. The experience, the fighters, and you, the viewer, is just unmatched. We all get paid. We do billions in revenue. You? Now you get a piece as well. Merry Christmas!”

Surely the promotion is one of the biggest sports organisations with billions in revenue. But giving away cryptocurrency feels quite out of character for the fight organiser. The ‘NVIDIA – Crypto Event’ page title doesn’t help. So how does the scam work?

Directing visitors to either a Bitcoin or an ETH giveaway, the scammers set rules for a one-time, participation-only event to create urgency. Asking visitors to make an initial Bitcoin payment in exchange for allegedly returning double the amount, this swindle lures the ill-informed fans by leveraging White’s reputation.

Scammers often use high-profile figures to lure unsuspecting users into sharing personal information or making payments, a tactic that has become increasingly common on social media platforms. Hence, it’s important to exercise due diligence before clicking on these unsolicited ads, especially those claiming to give away millions. Beyond the upfront payment, these websites can steal critical confidential information like credit card info and passwords, too.

To identify these scams, look for off-putting details in the ads that might have been created using AI. Moreover, bitcoin mentions can cast a direct shadow on the advertisements. In fact, cryptocurrency giveaways have become one of the most common scams online. And no, this isn’t the notorious Khabib Nurmagomedov crypto ‘scam’ as Conor McGregor alleged.

Elon Musk and others became the face of high-profile online robbery

In 2021, a similar cryptocurrency giveaway scam swept across the internet, amassing over $8.9 million in stolen money from internet victims. Scammers hijacked legitimate YouTube channels to announce these fake giveaways on Live, using AI-generated videos of notable figures in crypto. Michael Saylor, chairman and CEO of MicroStrategy and a supporter of Bitcoin, and Vitalik Buterin, the Ethereum co-founder, became prominent faces. Tesla CEO Elon Musk also found himself in the mix.

“The Bitcoin scams received $8.2 million in stolen funds, for an average amount of $1.6 million per scam. Ethereum scams received $413k in stolen funds, receiving on average $82,778 per scam. Finally, Shiba Inu scams earned $239,000 in funds, receiving on average $34,192 per scam,” Cyber exposure company, Tenable’s staff research engineer, Satnam Narang detailed.

In 2022, the scam made a reappearance in a similar extravagant fashion, spamming YouTube with fake ads that led to high-profile robbery. Global cybersecurity company, Group IB, reported a $1.6 million scam with 36 fabricated fraudulent giveaways across YouTube streams. The tactic of leveraging reputable figures, like Elon Musk and now Dana White, has remained a constant with these frauds. It’s important to approach such ads with caution, reporting sketchy YouTube ads and fake channels. Have you come across the fake Dana White bitcoin giveaway?