Story By: John Feng, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Asia Wire Report

These are the images a cash-strapped hubby sent to his wife after he faked his own kidnapping in a bid to force her to fork out a ransom so he could pay off his gambling debts.

Husband Mr Huang was reported missing and potentially kidnapped by his spouse, Ms Huang, on 19th September.

The woman from the town of Sanxiang, which is in the city of Zhongshan in South China’s Guangdong Province, contacted officers with the local Hewan Police Station.

Ms Huang said she had last seen her husband two days earlier when he left for work but never returned.

That night, she received messages from his purported kidnappers via her husband’s account on instant-message application WeChat.

The note on 17th September read: “Are you [Huang’s] wife? He still owes us 20,000 RMB (2,275 GBP). Bring it to us, or you’ll never see him again.”

Ms Huang said she was concerned about her husband’s well-being but did not immediately send over the ransom, believing it could be a scam.

In screenshots of the conversation, Ms Huang can be seen asking: “Let me see him and I’ll pay you. If I can’t see him, how do I know whether he’s dead or alive?”

She waited two full days until more messages arrived, this time accompanied by images appearing to show Mr Huang’s hands and feet bound, and his mouth gagged.

Investigators looking into the case were immediately suspicious when they discovered that Mr Huang had stayed at a hotel on 18th September, during the time he was supposedly kidnapped.

On the day, he also borrowed 2,000 RMB (225 GBP) from his cousin, claiming he was going to use the money to buy a car.

An inspection of the town’s CCTV images then reportedly showed Mr Huang walking about on the morning of 19th September.

The man appeared to be walking about freely and not being held against his will, the police said.

They tracked and found Mr Huang in the village of Maowan later the same day, after which the desperate husband is said to have confessed it all.

Mr Huang told police he had borrowed 14,000 RMB (1,590 GBP) from a friend – using the same car purchase lie – and lost it all on gambling in a single day.

He thought if he put on a realistic enough act, he could fool his wife and get her to send him money to pay off his debt, the authorities said in their report.

Mr Huang was jailed for 10 days and fined 500 RMB (55 GBP) for a public order offence.

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