Polymarket Paid Dozens to Post Videos of Themselves 'Winning' With Fake Bets (msn.com) 29
In January a college student posted a video showing him winning $100,000 on Polymarket — one of 145 that appeared to show bets adding up to almost $410,000, reports the Wall Street Journal. "But none of those bets were real."
Instead its creator was "one of dozens of mostly college-age creators Polymarket paid to film themselves making fake trades and sometimes scoring fake wins," the Journal reports, citing interviews with the creators an an analysis of more than 1,100 of their videos: Polymarket built near-perfect copies of its website, then instructed creators to make simulated trades on those dummy sites and hide that they were being paid by Polymarket. To get the videos to go viral, Polymarket has recruited a social-media army to copy and re-post creators' footage. Though the New York-based company has been banned from offering its primary crypto platform in the U.S. since 2022, the social-media creators are paid to specifically target U.S. users, who can still access the site with a virtual private network...
Polymarket hired and worked closely with a marketing contractor to promote the site. In a message reviewed by the Journal, that contractor told its social-media army to repost content made by 10 Polymarket creators in particular... These creators didn't initially identify themselves as paid by Polymarket, although one offered a $20 bonus code in his social-media bio... The company instructed creators not to disclose they are paid, according to creators who have worked with the company. They said the pay often added up to $2,000 to $3,000 a month...
A handful of videos the Journal reviewed also contained short glimpses of URLs indicating the sites were test environments for Polymarket engineers... Creators said they send the finished videos to Polymarket for review. If a video isn't engaging enough, or if it bears obvious signs of being faked, Polymarket will ask for the videos to be reshot, the creators said... Polymarket sends creators bullet-point guidance on what to say, according to creators who have worked with the company and a recruiting website... Polymarket's viral clipping campaign racked up more than 140 million views on TikTok, YouTube and Instagram, according to the analytics provider Tubular...
Internal materials show that Polymarket and Virality promote videos showing how easy it is to conduct insider trades on the platform. Polymarket has paid clippers to promote at least 19 videos discussing opportunities to use inside information or other tactics to manipulate markets.
America's advertising laws "require people who are paid to endorse a product to disclose their ties," the article notes, "although there is some gray area about what's permitted." (After the Journal's investigation, the creators started adding "@polymarket partner" to their bios, the article points out._ And when asked for a comment, Polymarket "said it plans to conduct a comprehensive audit of active promotional content."
Instead its creator was "one of dozens of mostly college-age creators Polymarket paid to film themselves making fake trades and sometimes scoring fake wins," the Journal reports, citing interviews with the creators an an analysis of more than 1,100 of their videos: Polymarket built near-perfect copies of its website, then instructed creators to make simulated trades on those dummy sites and hide that they were being paid by Polymarket. To get the videos to go viral, Polymarket has recruited a social-media army to copy and re-post creators' footage. Though the New York-based company has been banned from offering its primary crypto platform in the U.S. since 2022, the social-media creators are paid to specifically target U.S. users, who can still access the site with a virtual private network...
Polymarket hired and worked closely with a marketing contractor to promote the site. In a message reviewed by the Journal, that contractor told its social-media army to repost content made by 10 Polymarket creators in particular... These creators didn't initially identify themselves as paid by Polymarket, although one offered a $20 bonus code in his social-media bio... The company instructed creators not to disclose they are paid, according to creators who have worked with the company. They said the pay often added up to $2,000 to $3,000 a month...
A handful of videos the Journal reviewed also contained short glimpses of URLs indicating the sites were test environments for Polymarket engineers... Creators said they send the finished videos to Polymarket for review. If a video isn't engaging enough, or if it bears obvious signs of being faked, Polymarket will ask for the videos to be reshot, the creators said... Polymarket sends creators bullet-point guidance on what to say, according to creators who have worked with the company and a recruiting website... Polymarket's viral clipping campaign racked up more than 140 million views on TikTok, YouTube and Instagram, according to the analytics provider Tubular...
Internal materials show that Polymarket and Virality promote videos showing how easy it is to conduct insider trades on the platform. Polymarket has paid clippers to promote at least 19 videos discussing opportunities to use inside information or other tactics to manipulate markets.
America's advertising laws "require people who are paid to endorse a product to disclose their ties," the article notes, "although there is some gray area about what's permitted." (After the Journal's investigation, the creators started adding "@polymarket partner" to their bios, the article points out._ And when asked for a comment, Polymarket "said it plans to conduct a comprehensive audit of active promotional content."
Now hold on a second! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Now hold on a second! (Score:5, Funny)
At least we can count on the stock market to be honest and based on reality!
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Well teeeeeeeeechnially it is, when the reality is that a bunch of FOMO crazies drive up stocks of key companies in the hope to getting rich.
But that's not "the stock market". That's just a couple of edge case. "The Stock Market" itself is honest and based on reality and there's 10s of thousands of legitimate ways to invest when you're not touching NVIDIA, Elon Musk Ltd, or Gamestop.
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Re: Now hold on a second! (Score:2)
How shocked?
"fake" (Score:1)
is the new "normal".
Abnormal (Score:2)
Most if not all YouTubers clearly advertise when they're being sponsored. Even the shady gambling ads were obviously sponsored. Pretty sure the same applies on other platforms.
scams will continue until morale improves (Score:2, Funny)
"Buyer Beware" applies to EVERYTHING (Score:2)
Re: "Buyer Beware" applies to EVERYTHING (Score:2)
It's called 'advertisement'. (Score:3)
Did people clutch their pearls also when "Doctor" Marcus Welby did ads?
Re:It's called 'advertisement'. (Score:4, Informative)
Did people clutch their pearls also when "Doctor" Marcus Welby did ads?
What, the best you can do is bring up a show that went off the air fifty year ago?
And even then, when Robert Young did TV commercials for coffee, he was identified as "Robert Young," not as Doctor Marcus Welby, and they didn't pretend it was real. (In fact, the line from a series of advertisement of around that era, "I'm not a doctor but I play one on TV," is still a meme today.)
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That's a cool history reference I forgot.
But indeed, a better question is the eternal one: "how do you make gambling fair?"
It's an eternal question because it's a moving target. As honesty-seeking players adapt, so do their dishonest counterparts.
Dang (Score:2)
Follow the money (Score:3)
Who has a massive stake in Polymarket? https://www.cnbc.com/2025/08/2... [cnbc.com]
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scary thought (Score:4, Insightful)
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That said other gambling sites have also gotten caught doing this exact thing so...
try Vegas (Score:1)
Instead goto Vegas where the pros really know how to put on a show. Save your pennies. Show the best-gal a great time; rent a tux for a couple days. Travel ( train anybody?) and Vegas hotels are cheap. For the $3/4-hundred dollar loss at blackjack and craps you get all the sparkle/skin/talent you could imagine. Perhaps Macao and Mon
Corruption machine is (shocking!) corrupt (Score:3)