This is a wild story



https://www.timesofisrael.com/gamblers-trying-to-win-a-bet-on-polymarket-are-vowing-to-kill-me-if-i-dont-rewrite-an-iran-missile-story/



Shortly after midnight between Saturday and Sunday, I started to receive threatening messages in Hebrew on WhatsApp from someone called Haim.

“You have exactly half an hour to correct your attempt at influence,” he wrote.

“Despite the fact that you received countless inquiries — you insist on leaving it that way.”

“If you do not correct this by 01:00 Israel time today, March 15, you are bringing upon yourself damage you have never imagined you would suffer,” he threatened, in a very lengthy message.

Haim also attempted to call me via WhatsApp multiple times during the night, before sending me more messages.

...

I then received a WhatsApp message from another number, someone posing as a lawyer called Vered. I ignored the message. Then they called me, though the person on the other end sounded awfully like a young man, and not a middle-aged female lawyer.

On the phone, the “lawyer” told me that they were contacted by a company in the United States to look into my supposed manipulation on Polymarket.

I hung up and contacted the police.

Later in the afternoon, Haim messaged me again, this time with the most explicit threat yet.

“You have 90 minutes left to update the lie. If you do this — you solve in a minute the most serious problem you have caused yourself in life. And you won’t remember me anymore in a week.”

“If you decide not to correct it, and leave the lie intact, you will discover enemies who will be willing to pay anything to make your life miserable — within the framework of the law.”

...
The attempt by these gamblers to pressure me to change my reporting so that they would win their bet did not and will not succeed. But I do worry that other journalists may not be as ethical if they are promised some of the winnings.

An Israeli military reservist and a civilian were indicted last month for using classified information to place bets ahead of Israel’s war with Iran in June 2025. Similarly, journalists could easily exploit their knowledge for insider trading on the platform. I dearly hope that’s not been happening, and won’t happen, in this unnerving new arena, where reality, journalism, gambling and criminality intertwine.