Son fools parents with fake kidnapping tale

Alidair Swift, a 35-year-old from Sheffield, subjected his mother Fiona to what she described as the worst night of her life. He sent her a string of texts one night in June last year, pretending he had been kidnapped, as part of a horribly callous plot to extort money from her.

The Daily Mail reported that the man had already borrowed £7,000 from his parents in just three years, and had put them under relentless pressure to let him borrow more - texting up to three times a week to ask for money. The judge described his repeated demands for cash as 'relentless and unbearable'.

Even after they gave him cash, he continued spending beyond his means and had run up a gas bill of £125. The fake kidnapping rouse was his shocking solution to the dilemma of how to pay the bill.
%VIRTUAL-ArticleSidebar-scams-guide%
According to the Daily Telegraph, on 27 June Swift texted his mother to ask for £100 to repay a debt, which she transferred to him. Then he sent another text saying he had been sectioned and asking for £1,000 to pay for his care.

The following evening he sent a string of texts which implied that he had been kidnapped, that he didn't know where he was, and that the only way he would be able to return was if his captors were paid £125. The string of messages alarmed his mother so much that she called the police.

The following day officers traced the phone from which the texts were sent, and found it when they visited Swift's home in Sheffield. They also found Swift in bed with his girlfriend.

The story was retold at the Court of Appeal in London this week, where his jail sentence was halved from 18 months to 9 months. The judge took his remorse into consideration, along with his improved relationship with his parents.

Article continues below

Weird fakers
It's hard to imagine why someone would put their parents through this sort of anguish in order to get what they want. However, bizarrely, it's not as unusual as you might think. There have been a number of fake kidnapping scams over the past few years.

In August this year a 32-year-old Bolton man told his girlfriend that he had been kidnapped and would only be released if he paid a £50 debt. She called the police, who launched an investigation and began house-to-house enquiries. A man was arrested on suspicion of kidnapping, at which point it emerged that the whole thing had been conceived by the 'victim' who had been at a house party and came up with the tale in order to be able to stay out longer.

Oddly this wasn't the first time a man had chosen this solution. Last August a man in Texas pulled the same stunt. He put more effort into it, however, getting some of his friends to wear masks and break into his home in front of his wife in order to make the story more convincing. When he showed up in the morning he claimed his captors had let him go free, before eventually admitting he'd faked the whole thing.

In Shanghai, a student faked her own abduction in order to cover up her World Cup betting losses. She texted her mother claiming she had been kidnapped, and demanded a sum equal to the cash she'd lost. Police carrying out enquiries went to the girl's friend's house - where she discovered the student inside watching the World Cup.

But perhaps the weirdest case was in March this year, when a woman from Monte Vista sent her family text messages saying she was being held captive, and demanding a ransom was paid. They left the ransom in the pre-arranged spot, but the police kept it under surveillance. Her plot unravelled when she showed up in person to collect the money.

Crime stories on AOL Money
Man attacks restaurant worker in row over peas
Britain's mobile phone theft hotspots revealed
Scamwatch: "crash for cash" fraud