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

This is the failed businessman who kidnapped himself and sent apparently distressed photos to his wife in order to get her to send him money.

Mr Xie, 30, did not tell his wife that he had lost all his money on his business and could not pay his employees’ wages, so he came up with the plan to swindle his spouse, the police said.

Authorities in the coastal city of Xiamen, in East China’s Fujian Province, received a report from the businessman’s wife, Ms Zhao, on 20th March.

She claimed to have received a message from her husband, who rents a separate flat across town because of his work.

Mr Xie said he had been abducted by his workers because he owed then four months’ wages, requesting that she wire him 20,000 RMB (2,280 GBP) to rescue him, Ms Zhao revealed.

She dismissed the message as a prank, but a few hours later received a video-call showing her husband “bound and gagged”.

Ms Zhao was then sent a photo showing her husband apparently kidnapped by his workers.

The same picture was sent to Mr Xie’s sister and two other friends, all of whom were asked to send him money for his release.

But officers with Heshan Police Station were sent to Mr Xie’s rental flat and were surprised to find him alive and well.

The husband had apparently not been expecting his wife to call the police, and soon after confessed that his purported abduction had been an act.

Officer Lin Ruixin said: “In the video call to his wife, Mr Xie didn’t speak much, but she could see that he had been bound and gagged.

“The truth is that he had lost a lot of money because of his failed business.

“He couldn’t pay wages and thought up the plan to get money from family and friends.”

Mr Xie faces charges for fraud.

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