A con so incredible that any conman would gasp at it: Farmers of a village in Gujarat duped Russain betters with Fake IPL (Indian Premier League)!!
Mehsana police have arrested four men, and a few others are under investigation, busting them for running a fake IPL, and conning Russian punters into betting on it. A culprit named Shoeb Davda, who came back to India after working at a Russian pub, was the main brains behind this epic fraud of organising a dummy IPL and fooling Russian betters on it.
The group, comprising of farmers and some other youngsters, streamed these ‘fake’ IPL matches live on YouTube. They took turns wearing kits of Chennai Super Kings, Mumbai Indians and Gujarat Titans.
Even Harsha Bhogle was left laughing at this deception by farmers in Fake IPL
Further, to make the match sound realistic, they added downloaded sound effects to the stream; they even hired a commentator who sounded like Harsha Bhogle, the renowned cricket commentator.
Reportedly, Davda hired a total of 21 farmers for 400 rupees daily to act as cricketers. These farmers acted as cricketers and played in jerseys of different IPL teams.
According to a Times of India report, Shoeb had met Asif Mohammed in Russia who chalked out the blueprint to con Russian punters into placing bets on fake IPL matches.
“Chief organiser Shoeb Davda, who returned to Molipur after working for eight months in a Russian pub famous for taking bets, helped execute the con.
“Shoeb hired the farm of Ghulam Masih and installed halogen lights there. He readied 21 farm labourers, promising them Rs 400 per match. Next, he hired cameramen and bought t-shirts of IPL teams,” police official Bhavesh Rathod told the Times of India.
Shoeb used to instruct the outcome of deliveries to the umpires via walkie-talkies and then the umpires would convey the same to the players. The arrest was made when 3 lakh rupees was delivered as the first instalment of bets.
Fans were in shock by this epic con and some were impressed and also lauded the smarts behind this idea.
Here are some of the reactions:
Can’t stop laughing. Must hear this “commentator” pic.twitter.com/H4EcTBkJVa
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) July 11, 2022
Just incredible. And if they had called it the ‘Metaverse IPL’ they could have gotten a billion dollar valuation! https://t.co/62j974dL2U
— anand mahindra (@anandmahindra) July 11, 2022
Indians are so advanced, they will scam the scammers. https://t.co/YYd3wQCa0P
— Silencio (@hay_banda) July 12, 2022
Americans: “how do we defeat Russia?”
Indians: “hold my dhokla” https://t.co/bS3RuhAjnC
— Ridwan (@rid_aman) July 11, 2022
The effort put in is genuinely impressive https://t.co/2YzPFKgUhO
— Munk (@_Drunkenmunk) July 11, 2022
Clearly it was a scam and wrong tut tut but top marks for inventiveness
— James Barham (@nowthenthee) July 11, 2022
