Conmen caught running fake IPL targeting Russian gamblers

The 'Indian Premier Cricket League' reached the quarter-final stage before being stopped

Police in India have arrested a group of conmen who set up a fake version of the Indian Premier League to target Russian gamblers.

The 'Indian Premier Cricket League', which began three weeks after the real IPL concluded, reached the quarter-final stages before the police became involved.

Run from a remote farm in Gujarat, the conmen installed a cricket pitch at the facility, hired labourers and young people to pose as players in IPL kits - paying them 400 rupees (£4.20) per game, and used a Harsha Bhogle impersonator for the commentary.

^{The gang hired an individual to impersonate Indian commentator Harsha Bhogle [Gareth Copley/Getty Images]}

The matches were broadcast via an IPL YouTube channel, using "high resolution cameras", artificial crowd noise, and "computer generated graphic to display scores on a live stream", Inspector Bhavesh Rathod told reporters in India. 

Russian gamblers placed bets on a Telegram channel, with the conmen then alerting the fake umpires using walkie-talkies. The official would then "signal the bowler and batsman to hit a six, four or get out," Rathod said.

Those involved received more than 300,000 rupees (over £3,100) from their Russian punters.