Russian Punters Duped By Indian Villagers And Farm Laborers Through Fake Sports League

A group of four Indian villagers staged a fake "Indian Premier League" tournament with the help of farm laborers acting as players to dupe Russian punters in a betting scam.

What Happened: The fake cricket league conducted in a village in Gujarat reached the quarter-finals stage before police busted the racket following a tip-off, according to The Times of India report.

The gang had leased a remote farm in the western state of Gujarat, in which they set up a fake cricket ground with a brown and dusty outfield and a whitish carpet nailed to the ground as a cricket pitch.

See Also: Macau Lockdown Slashes Targets For Las Vegas Sands, MGM, Wynn — Try These 3 US Casino Stocks Instead

The tournament reportedly began three weeks after the actual IPL concluded in May.

Police official Bhavesh Rathod told reporters that the con artists installed a cricket pitch with "boundary lines and halogen lamps. Besides this, the accused had set up high-resolution cameras on the ground and used computer-generated graphics to display scores on a live-streaming screen."

The gang allegedly hired farm laborers and young people, paid them INR 400, about $5, a game, and broadcasted the matches live on a YouTube channel named "IPL."

The players wore jerseys similar to that of the IPL teams of Chennai Super Kings, Mumbai Indians, and Gujarat Titans on the instructions of the "Russia-based mastermind," according to the police. The gang also mimicked one of IPL's real Indian commentators to make the tournament appear authentic.

They lured the Russian punters into betting their roubles on a Telegram channel. Based on the Telegram responses, the gang alerted the fake umpire on the pitch using walkie-talkies to "signal the bowler and batsman to hit a six, four or get out."

The report pointed out that the accused had received the first installment of more than INR 300,000 ($3,767) from the punters in Russia.

See Also: Disney Pays $3B For India TV Rights To Indian Premier League Cricket