Written by :
Published on :
A gambler reportedly used a hairdryer to tamper with a temperature gauge at a Paris airport in an effort to steal $35,000 from the prediction market Kalshi.
Paris police are investigating a complaint over alleged tampering of a weather sensor at its international airport, which led to an unusual spike in temperature readings, helping an unknown person make strong profits on the online betting platform Polymarket.
Even more crazy, it happened more than once this month.
Polymarket offers temperature and weather prediction markets on its platform.
Weather enthusiasts speculate that a battery-powered hairdryer may have been used to tamper with the sensor, French newspaper Le Monde reported.
From MSN:
Two such instances were noticed by weather experts. On April 6, the temperature sensor at France’s Charles de Gaulle Airport recorded an unusual spike to 22°C, CNN reported. Temperatures averaged around 18°C all afternoon and soon returned to those cooler levels after the spike. An unknown Polymarket user won his bet that Paris temperatures would hit 22°C, pocketing $14,000, the report added.
The second instance took place around nine days later, on April 15. The temperature recorded at the airport’s sensor once again hit 22°C, nearly four degrees higher than the previous day. According to The Wall Street Journal, a mystery trader with the username ‘xX25Xx’ profited by more than $21,000 from a bet of just under $120 due to an unusual temperature spike reported on April 15. This brings the total reported profits from such bets over the two days to a whopping $35,000 (more than Rs 33 lakh), although it is not known whether it was one or more gamblers involved.
The alleged tampering corresponds to offenses under the French Criminal Code (Articles 323-1 to 323-3), which cover interference with computerized or automated systems and it could potentially fall under fraudulent interference with an automated system.
And because the goal was profit (~$14k–$35k), that alleged manipulation directly influenced a financial outcome.
The offender could be looking at 5-7 years in prison.
- Nagesh Rath, Gambling911.com
