Polymarket Gamblers Threatened To Kill A Journalist Unless He Rewrote His Iran Missile Story

Emanuel Fabian, the Times of Israel’s military correspondent, says Polymarket bettors sent him death threats after he reported that an Iranian ballistic missile struck an open area near Beit Shemesh on March 10 with no injuries.

The Dark Side Of Betting On Conflict

The dispute centers on Polymarket’s “Iran strikes Israel on…?” contract, which has generated $15 million in volume. The contract resolves “Yes” only if an Iranian missile impacts Israeli ground territory. Intercepted missiles do not count.

Fabian reported the missile hit a forested area roughly 500 meters from homes.

That wording would resolve the March 10 contract as “Yes.”

Bettors who wagered “No” on that date wanted him to change his report to say the missile was intercepted, which would flip the outcome in their favor.

What started as messages asking Fabian to clarify his reporting turned into bribery and threats.

One bettor sent Fabian a doctored screenshot showing a message he never wrote, in which he supposedly confirmed the missile was intercepted. Another offered a journalist colleague a cut of his Polymarket winnings if he could get the report changed.

Fabian took to X and told the gamblers to get a better hobby. After a quiet weekend, threatening WhatsApp messages arrived in Hebrew from someone called Haim shortly after midnight.

“You have exactly half an hour to correct your attempt at influence,” Haim wrote. Fabian ignored the deadline, and later that afternoon, Haim escalated further: “You will discover enemies who will be willing to pay anything to make your life miserable… After you make us lose $900,000 we will invest no less than that to finish you.”

In between, someone posing as a lawyer called Fabian to tell him a U.S. company was looking into his “manipulation” on Polymarket. Fabian contacted the police.

The market has not resolved and remains under dispute.

How Threats Expose Polymarket’s Integrity Crisis

The episode adds to a growing list of integrity problems for the platform. Two Israelis were indicted for using classified intelligence to place bets on the timing of strikes on Iran.

A trader called “Magamyman” made $553,000 on Khamenei’s death in what critics called a likely insider trade.

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) has called the Iran trades “insane” and is drafting legislation to ban war and death betting.

Polymarket did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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