The saying goes, “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.” So, what happens when you’re fooled a fourth time — by your own daughter?
The Sunday Times reports a 30-year-old Spanish woman has been arrested for faking her kidnapping at least four times and scaring her mother into paying a hefty ransom each time.
The latest scare tactic included a video of the young woman, who is blindfolded and has fake blood in the corner of her mouth, begging her mother to pay her kidnappers about $50,000. She also claims she was beaten and starved.
“They’ve kidnapped me mommy, and I don’t know why,” the woman howls in the video as someone holds a knife to her throat. “You can’t say anything to the police. If you do they’ll kill me.”
The mother feared for her daughter and quickly withdrew the money — as she had done at least three times before, Spain’s Civil Guard claims. Authorities say the mother had received three letters threatening her daughter’s life, so she dutifully paid the roughly $45,000 ransom.
Now, this 30-year-old woman and five others have been arrested for the scheme. Who were the others? Her partner and his family, per authorities.
Police said they found the group and the supposedly kidnapped woman in perfect health at a slot-machine casino. The Civil Guard also found the items used to stage the alarming video.
These people have been charged with extortion and other offenses — which could earn them between 12 months and five years in prison.