diff --git a/Source/Core/DiscIO/VolumeVerifier.cpp b/Source/Core/DiscIO/VolumeVerifier.cpp
index bad2790a4d..67ade47f55 100644
--- a/Source/Core/DiscIO/VolumeVerifier.cpp
+++ b/Source/Core/DiscIO/VolumeVerifier.cpp
@@ -99,7 +99,7 @@ void RedumpVerifier::Start(const Volume& volume)
       ERROR_LOG(DISCIO, "Failed to fetch data from Redump.org, using old cached data instead");
       [[fallthrough]];
     case DownloadStatus::Success:
-      return ScanDatfile(ReadDatfile(system));
+      return ScanDatfile(ReadDatfile(system), system);
 
     case DownloadStatus::SystemNotAvailable:
       m_result = {Status::Error, Common::GetStringT("Wii data is not public yet")};
@@ -213,7 +213,8 @@ static std::vector<u8> ParseHash(const char* str)
   return hash;
 }
 
-std::vector<RedumpVerifier::PotentialMatch> RedumpVerifier::ScanDatfile(const std::vector<u8>& data)
+std::vector<RedumpVerifier::PotentialMatch> RedumpVerifier::ScanDatfile(const std::vector<u8>& data,
+                                                                        const std::string& system)
 {
   pugi::xml_document doc;
   if (!doc.load_buffer(data.data(), data.size()))
@@ -223,10 +224,14 @@ std::vector<RedumpVerifier::PotentialMatch> RedumpVerifier::ScanDatfile(const st
   }
 
   std::vector<PotentialMatch> potential_matches;
+  bool serials_exist = false;
+  bool versions_exist = false;
   const pugi::xml_node datafile = doc.child("datafile");
   for (const pugi::xml_node game : datafile.children("game"))
   {
     std::string version_string = game.child("version").text().as_string();
+    if (!version_string.empty())
+      versions_exist = true;
 
     // Strip out prefix (e.g. "v1.02" -> "02", "Rev 2" -> "2")
     const size_t last_non_numeric = version_string.find_last_not_of("0123456789");
@@ -241,6 +246,8 @@ std::vector<RedumpVerifier::PotentialMatch> RedumpVerifier::ScanDatfile(const st
       continue;
 
     const std::string serials = game.child("serial").text().as_string();
+    if (!serials.empty())
+      serials_exist = true;
     if (serials.empty() || StringBeginsWith(serials, "DS"))
     {
       // GC Datel discs have no serials in Redump, Wii Datel discs have serials like "DS000101"
@@ -299,6 +306,17 @@ std::vector<RedumpVerifier::PotentialMatch> RedumpVerifier::ScanDatfile(const st
     potential_match.hashes.sha1 = ParseHash(rom.attribute("sha1").value());
   }
 
+  if (!serials_exist || !versions_exist)
+  {
+    // If we reach this, the user has most likely downloaded a datfile manually,
+    // so show a panic alert rather than just using ERROR_LOG
+
+    // i18n: "Serial" refers to serial numbers, e.g. RVL-RSBE-USA
+    PanicAlertT("Serial and/or version data is missing from %s", GetPathForSystem(system).c_str());
+    m_result = {Status::Error, Common::GetStringT("Failed to parse Redump.org data")};
+    return {};
+  }
+
   return potential_matches;
 }
 
diff --git a/Source/Core/DiscIO/VolumeVerifier.h b/Source/Core/DiscIO/VolumeVerifier.h
index b2f447db91..c9e69c3b09 100644
--- a/Source/Core/DiscIO/VolumeVerifier.h
+++ b/Source/Core/DiscIO/VolumeVerifier.h
@@ -88,7 +88,7 @@ private:
 
   static DownloadStatus DownloadDatfile(const std::string& system, DownloadStatus old_status);
   static std::vector<u8> ReadDatfile(const std::string& system);
-  std::vector<PotentialMatch> ScanDatfile(const std::vector<u8>& data);
+  std::vector<PotentialMatch> ScanDatfile(const std::vector<u8>& data, const std::string& system);
 
   std::string m_game_id;
   u16 m_revision;