Former Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has opened up about a hilarious online scam incident that he encountered during his stint with the Chennai Super Kings at the IPL 2025.
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Ashwin was targeted by an impersonator posing as New Zealand's star batter Devon Conway over a text conversation. The CSK spinner took him to be Conway at first, but soon realized that it was a random person.
The impersonator audaciously asked for Virat Kohli's phone number, which prompted Ashwin to call out the scam.
Ashwin scammed by Devon Conway's imposter?
Soon after the IPL 2025, Ashwin was nearly scammed by an impersonator who posed as New Zealand's opening batter Devon Conway. Ashwin and Conway were teammates during the IPL 2025, as they featured for the Chennai Super Kings.
Talking on the YouTube channel Ash Ki Baat, Ashwin described the hilarious incident.
"After the end of the IPL, a guy messaged me as Devon Conway - 'Hi buddy, how are you?' I also responded and said we'll stay in touch and talk, you play MLC, I will even watch the MLC match."
A few days back, one more such incident occurred, when a guy reportedly got access to Rajat Patidar's old SIM card and received calls from Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers. He, however, was detained by the police after the RCB skipper registered a complaint.
Ashwin described how the imposter asked him for Virat Kohli's number, which felt a bit odd to him and prompted him to call out the scam.
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"He said I missed Virat's number. Can you share Virat's number? Then I said okay, but why is he asking for Virat's number?... Then what I did was...I sent him Virat Kohli's other number."
Ashwin said that the imposter further went on to ask Rohit Sharma and MS Dhoni's numbers, which made him a bit suspicious. The spinner then, through his intelligence, exposed the scam and blocked the number.
"He then said, 'I left a few more numbers'...Rohit Sharma and MS Dhoni. I got a bit suspicious. Then I asked him a question - I gave you a bat this year, how's the bat? He said - 'the bat his amazing', but I never gave him a bat, he lied. I immediately blocked him," said Ashwin with a smile.
Although Ashwin shared it as a light-hearted, hilarious interaction, such scams, if not exposed, can lead to some severe complications for the players and can land them in trouble.