Police within India have caught a group of conmen which set up an artificial version of cricket’s Indian Premier Little league (IPL) and misled gamblers in Russia.
Punters parted with more than 300, 000 rupees (almost $4, 000), police said.
The conmen staged the match on a farm within Gujarat, paying labourers to pose since players, sporting jerseys of real IPL teams, with a fake umpire instructed in order to signal a border or wicket.
They even hired a man to imitate famous cricket commentator Harsha Bhogle.
Gamers were paid about 400 rupees ($5) per game plus broadcast the matches live over a Youtube . com channel called IPL.
The funnel would never show a wide shot of the message, and crowd sound effects were downloaded from the internet and played through a speaker.
The tournament began three weeks after the actual IPL came to the conclusion in May, police stated.
Despite this, the particular conmen managed to achieve the quarter-finals phase of their so-called “Indian Premier Cricket League” before police ended play.
Russian gamblers placed wagers on a Telegram funnel set up by the team, who then alerted the fake umpire using walkie-talkies, law enforcement inspector Bhavesh Rathod told reporters.
The particular fake umpire would certainly then “signal the bowler and batsman to hit a six, four or get out”, Mr Rathod said.
Police possess arrested four people in connection with the case.
Betting on cricket is usually illegal in India, and the suspects have already been charged with criminal conspiracy and betting, Reuters reported.