In a huge scam, cricket fans were duped. A fraudster faked a meet and greet event with the Indian cricket team in Sydney and sold tickets to over 200 fans.

Flyers with the message, “Meet and Greet with the Indian Cricket Team” were left on cars parked at the Cricket ground during India-Australia ODI match in December. The price was 550 Australian dollars (Rs 31,083) per head. The event was promised to be filled with wine, dinner and interview sessions with the Indian cricketers. The event’s venue was said to be Manjits Wharf restaurant, Sydney, taking place on January 5^th 2021.

The restaurant owners knew something was off when the promoter paid only 1,000 AUD as opposed to the decided deposit of $5,000 and did not attend any meetings to decide on the menu and decorations. The restaurant’s General Manager Deep Gujral said that they often host the Indian cricket team and provide meals to them. So when the promoter called for an event in the Michelin star restaurant, it was no surprise.

Manjit’s manager contacted Indian cricket team’s management where he found out that there were no plans for any such event. The management had no idea about this.

The owner informed about the said event and of the scam to the police and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s ScamWatch service as well. Luckily the police caught the scammer and put him in lockup.

When the manager had to share the details of this scam to the fans, he was broken as there was nothing that they could do. “We empathize and sympathize with them,” said Gujral. The fans were obviously disappointed. Even the restaurant’s name and reputation was tarnished because of this.

The New South Wales Police has requested all the people who got scammed to contact them. The fans will likely get back their money soon.