Indian farmers streamed fake cricket games to Russian bettors for two weeks

A group of Indian farmers created a convincing imitation of the IPL cricket league that fooled a Russian audience into placing real bets. According to a Times of India article, the phony games took place on a farm in Gujarat with 21 farm laborers and unemployed high school students paid 400 rupees ($5 USD) each to impersonate "pro" cricket players from popular Indian sides.

Over two weeks, farmers apparently streamed the tournament to YouTube and even established a Telegram channel dedicated to the games. Despite the fact that the real IPL's 2022 season came to an end in late May, Russian gamblers located in Tver, Voronezh, and Moscow made bets for fake matches.

But the farmers succeeded in fooling their Russian audience, thanks to some clever planning and a makeshift set-up. They erected five HD cameras and halogen lights around the field, as well as adding fake crowd noises.

At the start of each match, two players switched jerseys with those belonging to the Chennai Super Kings, Mumbai Indians, and Gujarat Titans. A “umpire” paraded the field with walkie-talkies while another man took on the role of famous cricket commentator Harsha Bhogle, who actually tweeted about the group's epic fraud.

The catch was that the public betting on both teams would determine the winner. This was key to ensuring fair play since Shoeb Davda, one of the tournament's creators, fed signals to the umpire based on live bets received from the Russians. The umpire would then signal to the batters and bowlers to assist with bets in their favor. Indian authorities arrested four of the clever swindlers during "quarter-finals" of the event, who were just taking delivery of 300,000 rupees (about $3,775 USD) from Russian bettors before it ended.