Polymarket, a prediction market platform, paid creators to produce videos showing fake winning bets on copycat websites — none of the roughly $1.9 million in bets across 1,105 videos were real, according to a Wall Street Journal investigation. The scheme was designed to fuel viral growth and attract US users by making market activity appear more lucrative and common than it actually was. This undercuts Polymarket's public positioning as a transparent, blockchain-based prediction platform and raises questions about regulatory oversight of prediction markets targeting US investors.