From children to quasi-famous singers, we count 10 people who faked their own kidnappings.
10 – Unnamed 11-year-old Boy,
- I’m assuming they didn’t release his name because a dumb thing done as a kid shouldn’t haunt you for the rest of your life.
- But this boy did certainly go far and beyond, he sent a text to his father stating that he was kidnapped.
- Road blocks were put up, police were whirring about looking for him but the father noticed the keys to his second apartment were missing and they found him there.
- Turns out he just really, really didn’t want his parent-teacher interview to happen.
9 – Aftab Aslam,
- Adults, however, get no such respite: 19-year-old Aftab sent a text to his parents saying that he was kidnapped and to not call the police or he’d be killed.
- Of course they called them anyway, the FBI even got involved, but they couldn’t find him.
- Turns out he was hiding in a tent out in the country and ended up coming home when it started raining.
- After a lot of cross-examination he admitted he faked the whole thing because he got an F at university.
8 – Jennifer Willbanks,
- Right before her marriage, Jennifer went missing without a trace, a few days later she called from a payphone saying she was kidnapped by a couple in their 40s in a blue van who then sexually assaulted her for three days.
- When she arrived home she admitted that the pressure to get married was just too much for her.
- She broke it off with her fiancé and then sued him.
7 – Matthew Robillard,
- Matthew went missing in January 2013, his car was found abandoned near an airport with a smashed window, two days later he turned up with cuts and burns all over his body.
- The police pretty quickly figured out that the whole story was fake and that he was just trying to somehow hide the fact he lost two-million dollars of his father-in-law’s money in bad investments.
6 – Fairlie Arrow,
- In 1991, Fairlie was a reasonably well-known Australian singer, not exactly famous but she had enough clout to make her money by singing in a casino lounge.
- She went missing on the 15th of December, 1991 and the media lapped the story up like a thirsty cat in front of a bowl of milk.
- She was found a while later tied-up and blindfolded by a roadside, but since it was covered on the news the cleaner from the motel she stayed at recognised her and dobbed her in.