An iOS App Store title by the name of “Sweets Bonanza”, posing under the guise of a dietary app designed to stop you from eating sugar, is actually just a front for a casino gambling app that’s being advertised using a MrBeast deepfake on Instagram.
iMore was tipped off to the app by a colleague who repeatedly saw an Instagram advert for a MrBeast-backed iOS game. The aforementioned Sweets Bonanza is showing on Instagram in user feeds and between reels, as well as stories. It features a voice-over of MrBeast, whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson, doctored from his appearance on the YouTube podcast “The Iced Coffee Hour.” In the video, he lists MrBeast Burger, Feastables, his MrBeast channel, and more as ventures before a haunting AI voice states “we built this app, Sweets Bonanza where everyone can win a minimum of a thousand dollars.” The interview then “asks” Donaldson what his main source of income says, to which the deepfake replies “I’m choosing Sweets Bonanza because it not only brings me a lot of income but also helps a lot of people alive.” The advert goes on to say people have won more than $100,000 in the last month, before encouraging people to download. In the video, MrBeast’s voice has a strange robotic tinge to it, meaning this has likely been manufactured using technology. “Helps a lot of people alive” is also a dead giveaway. You can see the video we were presented below:
Scams Bonanza
The app listing says Sweets Bonanza “is your sweet tooth's new best friend” and is describes it as the “ultimate tool for curbing sugar consumption and embracing a healthier lifestyle. This clever app combines real-time sugar tracking and AI-powered recommendations to help you keep your sweet tooth in check. It's like having a personal nutrition coach in your pocket.”
Yet even a surface-level investigation into the title, listed on the App Store by developer “Mankind UK Limited” reveals this is actually just a Casino app with an age rating of 4+. Installing and opening the app reveals a laundry list of casino games including roulette and other casino arcade games. There are ways to pay in with Bitcoin and a myriad of other shady-looking payment processing tools, and promotions for VIP rewards of up to £750, weekly raffles, free spins, and more.
Needless to say, this is not an AI-powered tool to stop you from eating sugar, nor is it a way for MrBeast to give you free money. It doesn’t even look anything like the screenshots included in the app listing, which begs the question as to how it ended up on the App Store in the first place. Apple is currently fighting multiple legal battles over its App Store business model, and apps like these are a key bone of contention. Apple says that relinquishing control over what goes into its App Store or what users have access to could lead to scams, fraud, and general consumer headaches. Yet clearly these apps already exist out there in the aether and finding them has become a key counterpoint in this regard.
With that being said, please don’t download Sweets Bonanza. MrBeast gives away plenty of money, but not like this. It's not the first time MrBeast has fallen foul of this. Earlier this month he noted a similar deepfake in which a "MrBeast" promised to give away thousands of iPhone 15 Pro models. With any luck, this will get taken down soon.
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