KARACHI: Several top Pakistan cricketers, including former captain Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan and pace spearhead Shaheen Shah Afridi, have allegedly fallen victim to a Ponzi scheme that could cost them millions of rupees, a source has said.
The matter has come to the notice of the Pakistan Cricket Board which is understood to be looking into the financial scam, the source said.
According to the source, around a dozen current players -- also including Fakhar Zaman, Shadab Khan and others -- along with a former Test captain had allegedly invested large sums with a Pakistani businessman who has now left the country.
"Initially the businessman who is well known to the players and has also been involved in sponsoring some franchises in the Pakistan Super League made profit payments to the players for the first few months but then stopped the profit payments," the source said.
When the affected players approached him, the businessman reportedly claimed that he had incurred heavy losses, including their investments as well as his own, and was unable to return the money, added the source.
"After that he stopped answering calls and messages and left the country," the source said.
Many of the players had invested not only their personal savings but also money belonging to relatives and close associates, the source said.
"It was basically a Ponzi scheme which went bad. Now these players face the prospect of losing out on millions of rupees," he said.
The total amount invested by the cricketers and their associates could exceed one billion rupees, the source added.