Mobile phone owners in Ipswich are among thousands of people trying to cash in on the decision of the Flappy Bird app creator’s decision to remove his game from the Apple and Google Play markets.

The game, which was removed on Monday, had been downloaded millions of times but Nguyen Ha Dong, of Hanoi, who created it, said it had ruined his life.

Since then, online shopping and auction sites have been filled with people selling second-hand phone and tablet devices, which are advertised as having Flappy Bird, for thousands of pounds.

On one site, a search of sellers in Ipswich and Suffolk trying to flog “Flappy Bird devices” gave dozens of results with people asking for between £100 and £3,000 for the products.

Experts say they have been shocked by the sudden surge in people selling the phones with the game, which was making about £30,000 a day in advertising revenue at its height.

Tech blogger Carter Thomas said the sudden popularity of Flappy Bird might have been due to use of fake accounts run by computers to create downloads and reviews.

He said he could not prove his suspicion and that the success might also be explained by it being “just a wildly viral game”.

Mr Dong, 29, wrote on Twitter on Saturday that the Internet sensation caused by the game “ruins my simple life” and he now hated it.

He did not address the inflated downloads allegation but denied suggestions he was withdrawing the game because it breached another game maker’s copyright.

“It is not anything related to legal issues. I just cannot keep it anymore,” he wrote.