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Online Marathon Scam?? Marathon Runner Lodge Cheating Case in Goa Police

Goa is famous for organising various marathon runs throughout the year and several hundreds of people participate on such marathons from various parts of country,
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Goa is famous for organising various marathon runs throughout the year and several hundreds of people participate on such marathons from various parts of country, but not all the marathon run gets to its destination and here is one such case of Marathon Run organised by the organisation called Mile Runners which did not kickoff despite collating the huge amount of money from hundreds of aspiring runners, here is the complete report…

According to the reports, this is not the first time wherein someone made use of online mediums to make money. Marathon is popular among today’s generation and using it as a tool to facilitate the scam was a bright idea for the frauds. Posting online registration forms along with a fee and rules stating that money will not be refunded once registered is clearly mentioned on the website of Mile Runners.

The aspiring runners from various states of India were drawn to the attraction of the online site of the marathon that was supposed to take place at Goa. Applicants to the marathon registration didn’t notice the cancellation and transfer policy on their website.  Nor did they realize that everything could be probably faked. People were asked to register their names and pay a sum of amount for security purpose as it would be returned once over. Quite a number of people applied to this and reached Goa. They had no doubts since Mile Runners is a famous organizer for Marathon and has conducted the sport in many states of India. However, on reaching Goa, the participants were shocked at the fact that there was no proper marathon organized. There were just a few boards mentioning the organizers’ name and directions of the run; like turn left, right or u-turn. The participants complained stating that this was severe unprofessionalism; there were no medical facilities, no route map arranged and no permission from the departments were taken.

One of the participants coming from Manipal stated that before arriving at the location on the marathon morning, he called the organizers to ask few details since there was no verbal communication. On the phone conversation, the organizer told him to come and that they will be present, but nothing of that sort seemed to have happened.

The participant went on to say, ‘At three in morning we received an email saying that due to bad weather the marathon will be conducted later, and we were asked to come at around 4:00 initially. But later they said to come at 5:00 am and if the weather is good then we can start by 6:00. We were here by 5:10 am and then realized that no one was here, not even the organizer and his phone was switched off.’

As per ‘In Goa 24×7’, yesterday at around 7:00 there were about ten participants at the spot, seeing no organizers and guides, the participants decided to stay in the spirit and begin the run themselves. They just ran for some distance as a warm-up exercise and when they were back it was known by an organizer who just arrived that the marathon was canceled. The participants expect their refund and thus filed a complaint to the same.

The participants were questioned on their complaint filed, whether it was truly a scam or just because of the weather the run was canceled. One of the participants said that it is the duty of the organizers to be present. When can the participants run for 20 miles and on, cant’ the organizers just stand and guide them? That was the only task supposed to be done by them.

While all the complaints were being filed, an organizer who was present stated to ‘In Goa 24×7’ that due to the rains and thundering, the marathon was canceled. He also said that for no reason, one of the participants started creating a scene and poisoning the mind of the rest, to which everyone began listening to him and felt insecure; thus got together and filed a complaint. On being questioned about the permission, he straight said that yes permissions were taken from the departments, but a final permission had to be taken.  An application had been sent for the final permission but the reply got delayed.  According to the participants, neither the organizers took any permission from the police and traffic department nor were any routes given. The participants were completely clueless as to what was to happen at that morning. They feel that this whole situation has been a big planned scam to get money out people with such fascinating things like the marathon.

The people’s money is wasted, the traveling amount, time and many other preparations done by people coming from far places have been ruined. It is not a joke to spend so much and come with high hopes and then expect nothing, but just cheats and frauds.

It has been alleged by one f the contestants that the Mile Runners have a trend in canceling events and had twice played this game before.  Many of the participants warned the public on further registration of the Mile runners’ marathon. According to their website, the contents show that there will be several more marathons organized in various places. The same trick will be used again and thus it is important to stay alert. The participants now stand in hope for their money to be refunded. While no one really knows who is speaking the truth, if the organizers of Mile runners return all the money of the participants without causing many problems it can be proved that they were innocent and that the whole complaint was a big understanding.

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