A hairdryer was allegedly used to rig Polymarket’s bets on the weather at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris, according to a report from The telegraph. French authorities note that official temperature readings at the airport have increased twice in the past month, reaching levels much higher than expected. On both occasions, Polymarket players appear to have walked away with thousands and thousands of dollars betting on these temperature fluctuations.
The gaming site relies on temperature sensor readings, and the one at Charles de Gaulle airport is on public roads. This makes access easier. The theory of operation is that someone snuck in and used a battery-powered hair dryer to raise the recorded temperature well beyond the actual heat outside.
Meanwhile, the Polymarket page indicated a less than one percent chance of the airport exceeding a particular temperature. Successful bets on these fluctuations earned an unknown user approximately $34,000.
holy shit, a hairdryer in a Paris airport blew up the Polymarket weather markets and made someone $34,000 richer
– Polymarket settled bets on the temperature of Paris on a single Météo France sensor located near the perimeter of the Charles de Gaulle runway – virtually unmonitored
– the guy bought… pic.twitter.com/ona2hP3oZc
– @aaronjmars (@aaronjmars) April 22, 2026
“In view of the physical findings on one of our instruments and the analysis of sensor data, Météo-France was indeed led to file a complaint for alteration of the operation of an automated data processing system with the Roissy air transport gendarmerie brigade,” indicated a spokesperson for the French Meteorological Agency.
There is no indication that Polymarket forced anyone to return their winnings, but the temperature sensor was moved to a new location. The site is still bets in progress on the daily temperature in Paris and the surrounding area.
It sucks that someone was able to trick a temperature sensor with a hairdryer to scam real players out of potential winnings. However, this kind of thing is to be expected when betting money on real-life scenarios like this. If something can be faked and there is money to be made, it will be faked. Humans will become human.
This does, however, shed light on the types of betting that should be allowed on sites like Polymarket and Kalshi. Polymarket, for example, hosts many bets on the outcome of warswhether or not countries will receive nuclear weapons And potential prison sentencesamong many other sensitive subjects. What happens when someone uses something far more dangerous than a hairdryer to change the outcome of something for profit?
This article was originally published on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/someone-allegedly-used-a-hairdryer-to-rig-polymarket-weather-bets-155312411.html?src=rss