Indian farmers streamed fake pro cricket matches to Russian bettors for two weeks

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A group of Indian farmers tricked a Russian audience into placing real bets on a fake cricket tournament. According to a report from the Times of India, the fake games took place on a farm in the village of Gujarat, with 21 farm laborers and unemployed teens who were each paid 400 rupees ($5USD) and tasked with pretending to be professional cricket players.

The farmers set up a Telegram channel dedicated to the games, as well as livestreaming the tournament toYouTube for two weeks. Despite the fact that the actual season of the Indian Premiere League ended in May, Russian gamblers took bets at that location.

Thanks to some clever thinking and a makeshift setup the farmers were able to fool the Russians. The sound effects mimicked the noise from a real crowd and five HD cameras were set up around the field.

The players who wore jerseys from the Chennai Super Kings, Mumbai Indians, and GujaratTitans were replaced by players who wore jerseys from other teams. As the games went on, one man took on the role of a famous cricket commentator, who acknowledged the group's scam on the social networking site.

The umpire was given instructions based on the live bets they received from the Russians. The umpire would make a signal to the bowler and the bowler would make a signal to the bat. Four con men were busted by Indian police during the quarter-finals of the tournament, who were just taking delivery of 300,000 rupee from Russians.