At least 40 people have approached the Bandra police station to report an ‘online money scam’ by the organisers of The Color Marathon, after the event was cancelled, following frequent changes in the date and route. The race, which was originally scheduled for July 3, had been postponed to August 21 due to alleged predictions of bad weather. It was finally cancelled, citing ‘technical and weather reasons.’The event was originally supposed to take place on the Bandra-Worli Sea Link and over 6,800 people registered, paying Rs 500 (early entries) and Rs 600 (for later entries), per head. When the race was cancelled, the participants were promised a refund by cheque in 20 days, making many suspect the intent of the organisers who could easily have transferred the online payments back into the respective accounts of the runners instead.Urmi Fernandes, one of the runners, said that the organisers had started selling participation passes from March. After shifting venues and dates, they called off the event completely.Bindu Nair Nambiar, who lodged the written complaint with the police on behalf of the group of 40, has accused the organisers of an ‘online scam’. In her complaint, she said that despite the cancellation of the race and the assurance of a refund, the organisers were still accepting registrations on their website.“We have also learned that the Ahmedabad and Surat marathons were similarly postponed or cancelled with the organisers citing various reasons. As regular marathon participants, we have never come across this kind of behaviour,” Nambiar said.Disgruntled runners have left no stone unturned in slamming the event organisers online. City-based author Yogesh Chandratre placed a complaint with the Mumbai Cyber Crime Investigation Cell and said, “Unhappy participants from across India have tried getting in touch with the organisers over the phone and on the website to make inquiries but have failed.”“Rahul Sharma [a manager from the event’s PR firm, The Red Carpet Concept] said that predictions of heavy rainfall had prompted the postponement of the event from July 3 to August 21,” said a Malabar Hill resident and half-marathon runner to the Mirror.City author Chandratre also said that when he had asked the organisers to post the required documents of permission from the Mumbai police and the BMC for holding the event at the Bandra-Worli Sea Link on July 3, a reply was posted saying that the event had been cancelled.Attempts to contact the organisers have gone unanswered.