Cryptocurrency prediction service Polymarket allegedly paid social media users to create and post fake videos of them making successful bets and celebrating big wins. The bloggers did not label the content as advertising or sponsored content.
Cryptocurrency prediction service Polymarket allegedly paid social media users to create and post fake videos of them making successful bets and celebrating big wins. The bloggers did not label the content as advertising or sponsored content.
This is according to an investigation by The Wall Street Journal. The journalists discovered more than 1,100 such misleading videos on various social networks and spoke with their authors. The content creators confirmed that the company paid them for filming, although this was not mentioned in any way in the publications themselves.
The videos created the illusion of a real user experience, but a detailed analysis revealed systemic signs of fraud. In particular, in the screen recordings, the authors demonstrated the interface of the duplicate site «poiymarket.com» instead of the official domain polymarket.com.
The journalists found that none of the bets shown in over a thousand analyzed videos were real. In 118 videos, bloggers reacted emotionally to supposedly winning predictions totaling almost $900,000. However, a real analysis of these positions showed that in the case of real bets, the authors would have received a net loss of $166,000.
After WSJ reporters reached out to Polymarket and the video creators for comment, most bloggers promptly removed the videos from their accounts. Polymarket, for its part, has blocked access to phishing and demo domains like «poiymarket» that were used to create false content.
Polymarket is one of the world’s largest decentralized live betting platforms, and its popularity has skyrocketed amid political and technological predictions. However, the company’s operations have repeatedly drawn the attention of financial regulators over transparency and compliance issues with gambling laws.
Polymarket previously allowed users to bet on when the US would next strike Iran. The company said the prediction markets were an «invaluable» source of news and answers.
Recall that in November 2025 , there were about 100 active bets on the Russian-Ukrainian war on Polymarket — such as whether the Russians would capture Pokrovsk by the end of the year, or when a ceasefire would occur. According to Forbes Ukraine, there were 97 active bets in November for a total of $96.8 million. The largest number of bets ($27 million) was placed on a bet on a ceasefire by the end of 2025, which has about a 5% probability.
