Moving beyond fake branded clothing and makeup, people around the world have also fake love stories and sometimes faked their own death, just for amusement. But these men in Gujarat went international with their ‘fakeism’ and duped Russian gamblers by faking an IPL (Indian Premier League).
From buying the jersey of multiple IPL teams like Chennai Super Kings (CSK), Mumbai Indians (MI), and Gujarat Titans (GT), to setting up a farm to look like a stadium full of halogen lights, walkie-talkies, and five HD cameras, the local farmers and unemployed youth from Molipur village in Vadnagar taluka of Mehsana district did everything to make the tournament look legit, reported Times Now.
They even had people masquerading as umpires and a commentator from Meerut to mimic Harsha Bhogle. They even added ‘crowd noise’ while streaming the match on a YouTube channel. The bets were made on a Telegram channel.
The 21 men roped in would change into the jersey of different teams and play the match for Rs 400 per day. All this was done months after the original IPL had concluded.
The attention to detail is what lured Russian punters from different cities including Tver, Voronezh, and Moscow to bet on the game. Interestingly, they pulled off the fake tournament from the farm for over a fortnight and earned around Rs 3 lakhs.
Can't stop laughing. Must hear this "commentator" pic.twitter.com/H4EcTBkJVa
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) July 11, 2022
However, all their efforts went down the drain as the cops busted their fake IPL tournament before they could play the semi-finals.
According to a report by The Economic Times, one Shoeb Davda, who returned to Molipur after working for eight months in a Russian pub famous for taking bets, helped execute the plan.
“Shoeb hired the farm of Ghulam Masih and installed halogen lights there. He readied 21 farm laborers, promising them Rs 400 per match. Next, he hired cameramen and bought t-shirts of IPL teams,” informed the cops.
On being arrested, Shoeb spilled that it was Asif Mohammed, a man he met while working in the Russian pub, who was the mastermind behind the fake IPL along with his other mates, Sadiq Davda, Saqib, Saifi, and Mohammed Kolu, who also umpired in the fake IPL matches.
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
Watch it here:
Here it is, the moment you’ve all been waiting for….
Footage of the Fake IPL, which somehow conned people in Russia into betting on it.
‘Chennai Fighters’ off to a solid start, pitch looking in good condition. pic.twitter.com/XtaL5W5zli
— Jordan Elgott (@JElgott) July 11, 2022
Twitter was blown away by the plan which they almost managed to pull off.
Not all heroes wear capes 😂https://t.co/VPE8wirgcO
— John Michael White (@johnmichaelw) July 11, 2022
Why bust them? They should make a movie about them
— Taimoor Khan (@taimoor____khan) July 11, 2022
India has insane undiscovered talent . In last they have run fake stock exchanges as well
— Blackswan (@quantokid) July 12, 2022
It’s interesting to see cops shut it down in 2 weeks. How many years have some scam call centres been up? So it’s ok to scam the west but not Russia…?
— B369314 (@Berg963) July 11, 2022
RCB came to final it seems.. that’s how it got busted for it’s fakeness.. 🚶
— Dobby (@themanhasname) July 12, 2022
Craziest thing I have seen in my life. In movie “Raja natvarlal” some people faked a IPL auction to scam investors. I felt this is very unrealistic movie. But this happened in real life blown up my mind.
Even single Google search can tell you how ipl looks like.Mind-blowing 😂
— Rohit.Bishnoi (@The_kafir_boy_2) July 11, 2022