Fake IPL scam duped Russian Gamblers, 4 arrested
- The players were farmers and unemployed youths
- The betting took place over Telegram channels
- Four people have been arrested so far
Four Indian scammers who had set up elaborate fake cricket matches and were duping Russians who were placing bets on them have been arrested so far by police on Monday.
Using a convoluted system of Telegram chat rooms and walkie-talkies to communicate with the players, con men Shoeb Davda and Asif Mohammed employed Gujarati farmers and unemployed youngsters to give Russian gamesters the impression that they were betting on real games. According to the police, Mohammed had taught Russians the intricacies of cricket while Davda, who had previously worked at a Russian betting bar set up the operation.
The scam, which lasted two weeks, paid each player around 400 rupees. Meanwhile, Davda and Mohammed both took home around 300,000 rupees through the course of the scam, according to a report from the Guardian. While the farmers who participated weren’t placed under arrest, they were being treating as witnesses to the crime, according to Gujarat state police officer Bhavesh Rathod.
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The scam was propagated through YouTube where the scammers had set up a channel under the name IPL which is the same name used by the Indian Premier League, a professional cricketing tournament. Using fake live broadcasts on YouTube, the masterminds of the scam lured in Russian gamblers and used a Telegram channel to take bets. Through a walkie-talkie, umpires would be told to mark certain actions hit or out.
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In a bid to make their scam seem more real, those who were running the scam used computer graphics to display the scores as well as used the sound effects of crowds to mimic a real one. So much so, that they had even employed a person who could mimic the voice of legendary cricket journalist and commentator Harsha Bhogle. The scam began nearly three weeks after the real IPL had concluded in May, according to the police.
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