A hair dryer, a lighter, or any source of heat could have been the tool used to manipulate the sensors at Charles de Gaulle Airport in France and alter the temperature records, allowing some investors to pocket thousands of dollars in weather bets on the Polymarket platform.
An unusual case that French police are now investigating after the weather service filed a formal complaint for “manipulating the operation of an automated data processing system”.
The irregularities were detected when the airport’s thermometers recorded completely abnormal temperature increases that did not match the actual weather conditions, and at the same time investor movements were recorded on Polymarket that turned out to be highly profitable, with gains of 14,000 and 21,000 dollars respectively, transactions that drew attention because they correctly predicted temperature thresholds that were only reached thanks to the manipulation.
The Infoclimat association, which was the first to warn about the possible manipulation, explained that the weather sensors in this area are easily accessible, located next to the road, and that the images circulating on social media, although unverified, show an individual using a hair dryer on a weather station.