LIFE> Odds and Ends
Woman, 21, fakes own kidnapping, busted
(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-08-10 18:17

A woman who wanted money to invest in a pyramid scheme faked her own kidnapping to squeeze some cash from her parents.

The 21-year-old woman, surnamed Chen, who hails from Anhui province, went to Zhangye in Gansu province to invest in the scheme.

When her parents refused to give her any money for what they thought was not a reliable way of earning a living, Chen plotted her own kidnapping.

She asked some of the other people who were also investing in the scheme to phone her parents and demand a ransom of 60,000 yuan ($8,785) on July 14. They even sent Chen's nude photos to her parents.

Recently, police in Zhangye raided a house and found 23 people, including Chen, running their pyramid selling business from there.

Chen and another person Guo, who made the ransom phone call, were arrested.

(Lanzhou Morning News)