Making tens of thousands of dollars with a hairdryer.

The French weather forecasting agency has warned that someone is tampering with temperature sensors at Charles de Gaulle airport, thereby "manipulating" betting results on Polymarket.

Tampering with temperature sensors at airports can be dangerous, as this data is crucial for takeoffs and landings. Photo: Bloomberg .

On April 23, France's weather forecasting agency warned of suspected tampering with weather sensors at the country's largest airport and referred the matter to police, after detecting unusual readings along with large-scale betting activity on a popular weather forecasting market.

Specifically, data from Meteo France's automated weather station at Charles de Gaulle International Airport showed a sudden temperature increase of 4-5 degrees Celsius on the evenings of April 6th and 15th, reaching the highest temperatures recorded at that location on those days.

This unusual surge was detected by members of the French non-profit climate association Infoclimat, when at around 9:30 p.m. local time, Meteo France recorded a temperature of 22 degrees Celsius in Paris, despite the average temperature for the afternoon being 18 degrees Celsius.

Unusual volume of bets placed on the highest temperatures in Paris on April 15. Photo: X/aaronjmars .

This coincides with a user on the Polymarket platform successfully betting on sudden temperature increases in Paris, France. According to statistics, this user won $14,000 by successfully betting on a temperature of 22 degrees Celsius.

The second unexpected surge occurred nine days later, on April 15th, when the temperature recorded by sensors at Charles de Gaulle once again reached 22 degrees Celsius. On Polymarket, one trader made over $21,000 with a bet that 18 degrees Celsius would not be the highest temperature recorded on April 15th.

Infoclimat said it had once again reported this spike to Meteo France, and some climate activists speculated on the association's forum that someone might have used a hairdryer to interfere with the sensor, according to the French newspaper Le Monde .

Meteorologist Ruben Hallali, CEO and co-founder of Paris-based weather intelligence company HD Rain, believes the consequences of tampering with airport sensors could be very serious.

This data provides pilots and air traffic controllers with crucial information about temperature, wind, visibility, and other conditions.

This data will then be used for takeoffs and landings, determining which runways are to use, and helping air traffic controllers establish routes and distances between aircraft.

Source: https://znews.vn/kiem-hang-chuc-nghin-usd-bang-mot-chiec-may-say-toc-post1646108.html