Well, it looks like the “Squid Game” craze just took a weird turn in Sulaymaniyah city in Kurdistan Region of Iraq, as the organizer of a local, unlicensed scam competition has disappeared with everyone’s cash—and a promise of a trip to Saudi Arabia for Umrah. You can guess how this one ended: not in an epic game of “Red Light, Green Light,” but with some very disappointed participants and a whole lot of empty pockets.
The event promised cash rewards and an Umrah trip to lucky winners, inspired by the wildly popular Netflix series. Think deadly children’s games, but without the deadly bit. Only, instead of winning big, players are now stuck with nothing except the memory of a poorly executed idea and an organizer who’s become as elusive as a disappearing TikTok video.
Participants paid up to 25,000 Iraqi dinars (about $16.67), only to see the organizer, Reber Hadi, vanish into thin air. Calls went unanswered, social media accounts went silent, and the suspense of the event turned out to be a real-life scam. Hadi, who had been actively promoting the event, even had the audacity to claim that the competition would go forward—even though he never had official approval from the authorities.
Now, about 456 people who signed up for the event are left wondering where their money went, with no answers in sight. At this point, it’s safe to say the only game these folks are playing now is “How to Get Their Money Back.”
