Polymarket, the crypto prediction market that became a household name during the 2024 US presidential election, has a marketing problem. And by “problem,” we mean more than 1,100 promotional videos featuring fake trades, fabricated winnings, and creators who were told not to mention they were being paid.
A Wall Street Journal investigation revealed that the platform orchestrated a campaign using college-age social media creators who posted videos between December 2025 and mid-May 2026 that deceptively suggested they were making money on Polymarket.
The anatomy of a fake flex
The Journal analyzed 1,105 videos from 10 endorsed creators. In roughly 70% of the analyzed videos, creators were placing bets on dummy websites specifically built by Polymarket for filming purposes. Not on the actual platform.
The fake winnings showcased across these videos totaled nearly $1.9 million. Of that sum, about $900,000 was celebrated as winnings in staged trades. If those trades had actually been executed on the real platform, they would have resulted in losses exceeding $166,000.
