Someone bet on a temperature spike in Paris on Polymarket. Then allegedly cheated using lighter or hair dryer
Another cheating controversy linked to Polymarket betting has emerged in Paris, where a trader tampered with the weather monitoring device to spike the temperature. He had bet that it would go above 17.7 degrees Celsius on April 15, and it did.
Weather betting scandal in Paris
Polymarket betting is leading people to deploy all sorts of deceitful ways to make money. One person in Paris bet on the city's highest temperature on a day, and then made it happen by tampering with the weather monitoring device. French authorities are investigating the case as meteorologists have ruled out that the spike in temperature happened naturally. The trader has deleted his account.
Trader bet for a temperature spike in Paris, and it happened
The incident happened when an anonymous trader with the username "xX25Xx" bet $119 that the temperature in Paris on April 15 would soar past the equivalent of 64 degrees Fahrenheit, or 17.7 degrees Celsius. Shockingly, that's exactly what happened as the temperature witnessed a sudden spike on the exact day at Charles de Gaulle Airport. The trader went home with $21,398 in profit.
He tampered with the weather-monitoring device at Charles de Gaulle Airport
This Polymarket account soon attracted a lot of attention. The French weather service, Météo-France, checked its system and denied that the anomaly happened naturally. Officials confirmed that someone tampered with a weather-monitoring device at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris. This particular user then panicked and deleted his Polymarket account.
How did the trader tampered with the weather monitoring device?
French broadcaster BFM TV reported that the weather service has filed a complaint with the airport police. The betting community and weather enthusiasts online have been discussing how this person could have caused the temperature to spike artificially. According to theories, the person could have done it using either of two things - a lighter or a battery-powered hairdryer.
Cordless hairdryer or lighter used to increase the temperature?
French analytics firm Bubblemaps analysed the temperatures recorded on April 15 at other weather stations in the city and found that none of them had recorded the temperature spike. While investigations are still going on, this person apparently used a cordless hairdryer or a lighter to push the temperature up. Notably, the winning bet placed by the Polymarket trader was 20 times larger than their usual wager.
Polymarket is no longer using Charles de Gaulle weather sensor data
People are reacting to the methodology used by this person, saying he pulled off a "classic scam." A user wrote on Discord, "The good old 'blowdrier with heat setting on the publicly-accessible weather monitoring station near the airport' scam. It's a classic." Polymarket has yet to comment on the incident. Meanwhile, the website shows that it is no longer relying on the Charles de Gaulle weather sensor data and is using data from a device at the Paris–Le Bourget Airport to settle bets.
US special forces soldier arrested for betting on Maduro's capture
Polymarket has witnessed several such instances recently, with insider trading allegations hogging the limelight. It happened when the US captured Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro, and then again a few times during the Iran War. On Thursday (April 23), a US special forces soldier was arrested for allegedly betting on Maduro's removal before the information was publicly available. Van Dyke, who was involved in the military operation, won more than $409,000. Polymarket released a statement, saying, "When we identified a user trading on classified government information, we referred the matter to the DOJ & cooperated with their investigation." It added, "Insider trading has no place on Polymarket. Today's arrest is proof the system works."
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