Polymarket Paris temperature market exploited via physical sensor manipulation with a hair dryer, netting ~$34k in winnings.
DeFi & Yields ·
An individual used a portable heat source at Paris's Charles de Gaulle Airport to manipulate a weather sensor and win approximately $34,000 across multiple bets on Polymarket's temperature markets. According to the report, the exploit targeted a single Météo France sensor positioned near the runway perimeter with minimal protection. The trader had purchased low-probability outcomes—such as a 22°C high when consensus favored 18°C—at minimal cost, then briefly applied heat to the unguarded probe to artificially spike its reading and trigger settlement in their favor.
The manipulation succeeded because the temperature spike registered as the daily maximum before returning to baseline within minutes, leaving a detectable pattern in market probability data showing late shifts toward the higher ranges. The individual executed successful payouts on two separate dates: April 6 and April 15, before the scheme was discovered. Météo France subsequently filed charges in response to the incident, exposing a critical infrastructure vulnerability in how Polymarket's price feeds depended on a single, physically accessible data source.